


A Place to Call Home

by WolfgangRythem



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 22:07:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 73,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3266057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfgangRythem/pseuds/WolfgangRythem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex is the new girl in town who catches Tobin's eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys this is my first time writing a fanfic! This story will have multiple chapters. Hope you enjoy!

Tobin's POV 

The sweat dripped off my brow as I put the finishing touches of paint onto the new deck that my boss had just gotten built. I work at the Sun Sand and Surf shop that was right on the coast. It was a two story shop but only the bottom floor was open to the public. The top floor was where my boss let me live. She says its for extra security for the shop but I know better than that. I put down the brush, sat down, closed my eyes and took a deep breath of fresh ocean air thinking about how much the last year has changed my life. As I sat there relaxing with the sun and breeze hitting me my boss walked up.  
" Hey Tobin the deck looks pretty awesome you did a great job on it."

" Thanks Abby! Yeah I definitely think the deck adds some character to the shop." Said Tobin. 

" You've been working for a long time now why don't you take a break and go get some lunch or something." Said Abby.

" Sweet because I'm starving! I swear I could eat a whale right now!" Said Tobin with a smile. 

" Here's some money it's on me today." Said Abby while handing out a twenty to me. 

" You don't have to do that Abby." 

" I know but I want to. Plus you did a really good job on this deck so you deserve something nice for lunch today and we both know I'll keep badgering you until you take it. "

" Fine but I can fend for myself the rest of the week!" 

" Whatever you say kid!" With a backwards wave Abby made her way back into the shop.  
I look at the twenty in my hand and can't get over how much Abby had done for me in the short amount of time that she had known me for. With a shake of my head I grab my worn out skateboard from the corner by the door and turn to go find my self lunch, most likely some fish tacos I can't ever get enough of them! As I turn my eyes fall upon a girl who is walking in front of the shop staring intently at her phone in her hand and is about to get hit by a teenager on a longboard. Before I could even yell out a warning the collision happens and they both fall to the ground. I stood there transfixed with my skateboard in my hand for a second and then jump into action by running over to them.  
I stretch out my hand to help the girl up since the teenager was already up on his feet and was riding off. As I turn my attention back to the girl scoffing at the rudeness of the teen, my breath catches in my throat. There sitting in front of me was possibly the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She had long brown hair, from what I could see perfect bone structure, and killer legs. My heart however stopped in my chest once she looked up at me accepting my outstretched hand. I'm pretty sure her eyes were bluer then then the ocean behind me. As I helped her to her feet I realized I was staring blatantly at her and turned my attention to my feet while scratching the back of my neck. 

" Sorry about that he kind of just ran you over. Oh shit your bleeding!" I exclaimed as I realized her right arm and knee were scraped up from the fall. 

" It's ok they aren't that bad." She said and I realized I wanted to hear more of that raspy voice. 

" C'mon there's a first aid kit in the shop. I can't just let you walk down the street like this." I said with a chuckle. 

" I would but my mom always taught me not to go anywhere with strangers." The girl said with a smirk and giggle that made my heart beat faster. 

" I'm Tobin." I say with a smirk of my own. 

" Well Tobin I'm Alex. It's nice to meet you!" She stuck her hand out for a handshake which I immediately take. Her hands were soft in mine and warmth spread throughout my whole body. All too soon we let go of each other's hands. 

" Since we aren't strangers anymore can I take care of your cuts now?" I said with a smile. 

" Lead the way. " Alex said with a wink.  
Dear god this girl might be the death of me I thought as I led her into the shop. 

" Hey kid I thought I told you to go get some lunch. " said Abby with a confused look on her face knowing that I was starving. 

" I was on my way when this punk ran into Alex here causing her to fall and get some pretty good scrapes." I said while holding my arm up to point towards Alex who had just walked through the door. 

" Oh crap that sucks! Do you want me to take care of her or do you have it under control?" 

" Nah I've got it under control. Dr. Tobin to the rescue!" 

I hear a giggle behind me and look to see Alex with a hand over her mouth trying not to show that she was laughing. I smile at her loving that I was able to make her laugh. I motion for her to follow me to the back of the shop where we store all of the items. 

" Alex if you could sit on this counter Dr. Tobin will be in momentarily to take care of your wounds. " I say while trying to keep my face straight. 

" Of course!" Alex said while laughing.

I walk off with a smile on my face proud that I had been able to make her laugh twice within a few minutes of knowing each other. I locate the first aid kit and make my way back to Alex and decide to keep up the act.

" Hello Alex I'm Dr. Tobin. I heard that you had a nasty spill with a skateboarder and need to be cleaned up. " I say pretending to look at a clipboard. 

" Yes that's right. " She said with a smile. 

I laugh not being able to hold up the act anymore and she joins in. We look at each other for a few seconds with smiles on our faces until I shake my head a snap out of it. I couldn't help but stare at the girl when she was smiling like that. 

" Ok let's see if I can clean this up. I'm sorry but it may sting a little when I put the hydrogen peroxide on." 

" I think I can handle it." She says while giving me another one of her smirks and winks that makes my heart sound like I just ran 5 miles. 

" Um Ok." I say while bending my head down so she wouldn't see my blush that just spread across my face. 

Once I finished cleaning Alex's cuts and put bandages on it I start to put away the items I used on her and she hopped off the counter. 

" Thank you Tobin that was really sweet of you!" Alex said with a warm smile on her face. 

" Uh it was nothing no big deal." I say while scratching the back of my neck. I tend to do that when I get nervous. Realizing what I was doing I immediately let my arm drop to my side. 

" I'll be right back I'm just going to go put this up." I say motioning to the first aid kit. 

" Ok!" 

I place the kit back into the right spot and walk back into the storage room to find Alex walking among the surfboards running her hands over them. I lean against the doorframe for a minute captivated by her. I don't move until I see one surfboard has caught her attention. 

" Do you surf?" I ask as I walk towards her 

She turns around giggling " No I just think this ones really pretty. "

" I can teach you if you ever want to learn." I eagerly say and immediately blush thinking that I was being too forward. 

" Oh you surf a lot?" 

" Yeah I surfed a lot as a kid and then stopped for a long time and just recently picked it back up." I say and my eyes go wide realizing I might have let something slip about my past. 

" How come you stopped?" She asked cocking her head to the side.

I immediately start stumbling over my words trying to think of an excuse. " Um well um just uh personal reasons." I say while looking down at my feet. 

" Hey it's ok Tobin you don't have to tell me anything. " Alex says while putting a hand on my arm. 

" Well maybe one day when we know each other better I will." I say and blush again realizing that I had just assumed she would want to be friends with me. 

"How about we get to know each other over lunch?" She says with a smile that reaches her blue eyes.

" O-Ok" I somehow choke out.


	2. Chapter 2

We ended up going to a burger restaurant that was down the street from the Sun Sand and Surf shop. Over our burgers and milkshakes I found out that Alex had just moved to Cambria from New York a few days ago and was exploring the town when she got plowed over. I found out that she's 17, an only child, and loved soccer. When she tried turning the conversation onto my life I would gently redirect the conversation back onto her. After about an hour of just sitting and talking I realized I should probably get back to work. 

" So as much fun as this has been I have to probably be getting back to work." I said regretfully. 

" Oh that's cool I understand. I'll walk back with you!" 

I smile at her and use the money that Abby gave me to pay for the meal even though Alex fought over paying for it with me. 

" Its the least I can do when one of my fellow idiot boarders ran over you without even apologizing for it." I say with a shrug of my shoulders. 

 

"I'm glad your not one of those idiots." Alex says with a smile. 

I give a nervous a laugh and lead the way back to the shop. We're silent as we begin walking, but it's not awkward just peaceful. As we approach the shop I start to realize that this could be the end of the best afternoon I'd had in a while. I turn to Alex and start to talk so fast that my words come out as a jumbled mess. 

" So I know you probably don't know that many people here but there's this small get together on the beach tonight with my friends. It'll just be us hanging around a bonfire and you could come if you want to." I say in one breath.

Alex just looks at me with a confused look and I immediately begin to back track on what I had just said. 

" You know what you probably just want to go home and relax just forget that I said anything I'm just- " 

" Tobin!" 

" Yeah?" 

" I would love to go with you to the bonfire!" Exclaimed Alex laughing. 

" Really?! Awesome!" I'm smiling so wide that the corners of my mouth are threatening to split. 

" How about you meet me here at 7 tonight and we can walk down to the bonfire?" I ask making sure she still wanted to come. 

" Yeah that sounds great I'll see you later Tobin!" 

"See ya Alex!" 

I watch as she walks away waving at me and can't help the goofy grin that spreads across my face as I wave back. I stand there until she's walked around the bend and turn only to run into someone's chest. 

" Oof!" 

" Well it seems you found a new friend." 

" Abby you scared the crap out of me!" I said. Realizing something I look at the road behind me and then turn back to her. " Uh exactly how long have you been standing here for?" 

" Long enough to see that your totally smitten with that girl Alex." Abby said with a smirk. 

My jaw drop and I promptly start to blush. " What... No... I'm... it's not like that!" I say trying to defend myself.

" Whatever you say kid!" Abby said walking away once again leaving me alone to think about tonight.

 

That Night

 

I glance at my watch where it reads 7:16. It's ok Tobin she probably just got lost on the way here she has only been living here for a few days I thought to myself. I sat on the the swinging bench that was on the newly built deck of the Sun Sand and Surf shop waiting patiently for Alex to show up. As time dragged on the excitement left me and disappointment started to sink in. At 7:38 I decided that Alex wasn't going to show up and I might as well go meet my friends on the beach. 

" Who am I kidding. No one wants to go out with you Heath." I mumble to myself as I kick a loose rock along my path. I'm only walking for a couple of seconds before I here a shout behind me. 

" Hey Tobin wait up!" 

I turn around confused until I see who it is jogging towards me. Alex has on sandals, small white shorts that show off those killer legs, a loose black tank, and has her hair down. Once she's in front of me she stops slightly out of breath with a smile on her face. 

" Hey!" She lets out breathily. 

" Hey I thought you weren't going to show so I decided to just head to the beach." I said while kicking another pebble that's at my foot. 

" I'm really sorry Tobin! My family had this business dinner that I didn't know about and I had to attend to and I didn't have your phone number or anything so I just hoped you would still be here because I was looking forward to this all day!" She says with a guilty look on her face. 

" Oh. Well uh since your here why don't we just go now." I say with a grin that I hope she understands I forgive her for being late. 

" Great! Lead the way oh patient Tobin!" She states with a giggle. 

With that I smile at her and we make our way to the bonfire. 

" Yo Tobs you made it!" Kelley shouts out as soon as she sees us walking towards them.

" Ohhhhh and you brought someone with you!Who is this mysterious person who got stuck with you?" Kelley ask with an impish grin on her face once she had spotted Alex. 

" This is Alex. Alex this is the most annoying person you'll ever meet yet somehow still my best friend Kelley. " I say giving Kelley eyes implying that she had better not embarrass me. Alex just laughs at the both of us 

" You know Tobs that really hurts that you say O'hara is your best friend." A girl sarcastically jokes from across the fire. 

" Cheney you know your my other best friend! Alex this is Cheney. Cheney this is Alex. 

" Hey Alex it's nice to meet you! I'm glad Toby decided to bring someone new to the group. It gets kinda boring hanging out with the same boring losers all the time." She says grinning at me and Alex while there's a collective " Hey!" From the rest of the girls. 

" Ok Alex next to Cheney is Ashlyn and Ali and next to them is Sydney and Megan but we just call her Pinoe. Guys this is Alex. " I say while pointing out the rest of the girls. 

" Hey everyone it's nice to meet you!" Alex  
Says with a smile. 

" Hey Alex!" The whole group says back in unison causing everyone to start laughing. 

" So Alex no offense but how did this dork get you to come hang out with us?" Kelley ask while nodding her head towards Tobin. 

" Aw come on Kell she just got here don't start badgering her with questions already." I complained. 

" Toby we're just curious about your hot girl!" Kelley exclaimed with a wicked grin on her face. 

" Oh my god I think I might die of embarrassment." I mutter under my breath and face palm myself trying to hide the blush that's creeping onto my face. 

" Toby?" Alex questions with a grin and raised eyebrow.

" Uhhh yeah they use that nickname because they know I hate it." I say and stick my tongue out at Kelley. 

Alex giggles and leans in to whisper in my ear " Well can I call you Toby?" She ask and then leans back to look at me. 

All I can do is try not to blush and nod my head because I can't form words at the moment. With that Alex walks away winking at me before sitting on the log in between Sydney and Kelley. I stare flabbergasted at her for a moment before snapping out of it and sitting next to Cheney. 

" So what's up with you two?" Cheney asks suggestively while bumping my shoulder with hers. 

" Nothing Cheney we just met today and she's new to town so I decided to show her around and let her meet some people." I say pretty quickly and picked up a stick to poke at the fire. 

" Ok Tobs." She said with a grin and turned back to the conversation the group was having. 

As the night goes on I frequently catch myself just staring at Alex simply caught up in her beauty . She had instantly became friends with Sydney and Kelley and I could only pray that they hadn't been saying anything embarrassing about me. They were laughing non stop and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face every time I heard Alex laugh. I think Cheney caught on pretty quick at how much I liked Alex because I would catch her looking at me with a goofy grin on her face, which only made me blush more.   
When it started getting late I made my way over to Alex. 

" Hey Tobs your girl is freaking awesome I swear we were best friends in a different life!" Kelley exclaims excitedly causing Alex and Sydney to laugh 

I just roll my eyes and sit down next to Alex who turns her attention to me. 

"Hi" I said while grinning. 

"Hey" she said back with her own grin. 

" Are you tired?" 

" Not particularly" 

" Are you hungry?"

" Actually I am a little hungry." She said cocking her head to the side and looking at me with a confused look. " Why?" 

I bite my lip nervously before building up the courage to lean in and whisper into Alex's ear. " Do you want to go somewhere special with me?" I lean back to read her face for any signs that she'll reject me.

" Of course Toby!" She says to me quietly with a grin. 

I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding with relief. I smile and rise to my feet before holding out my hand for Alex. She takes it and doesn't let go and I think I might faint from happiness. 

" Hey guys we're headed out we'll see you later!" I say and begin to lead Alex away before my friends could start making jokes. 

" Bye Alex it was great meeting you hope to see you soon!" Most of the group said. Kelley hopped up and gave Alex a hug while whispering in Alex's ear. Whatever she said made Alex laugh and nod her head in understanding. Once finished Kelley turns and gives me a wink before going back to the fire. Alex joins me and interlaces her fingers with mine and I have to bite my lip to keep the huge grin off my face. 

" So Tobin where are you taking me at 12 o'clock at night?" Alex ask jokingly. 

I turn to her with a smirk on my lips " It's a surprise."


	3. Chapter 3

“ Tobin I’m not getting on that thing.” Alex said while staring at the vehicle behind me. 

“Aw come on Alex! It’s not that bad and I don’t plan on walking 5 miles in the dark do you?” I say exaggeratedly. I look back to my simple black motorcycle that’s parked behind the Sun Sand and Surf shop. I had saved up my money for months to be able to buy it. It wasn’t anything special, but it meant the world to me. 

“ I don’t know Toby.” 

“ Do you trust me Alex?” I ask sincerely hoping that she did. 

“ Yes.” She said stubbornly.

“ Alex I promise nothing bad is going to happen. I’m a really safe driver.” I say trying to convince her to get on the bike with me.

“ Fine! But you had better not go fast!” Alex said while playfully glaring at me. 

I beam at her and hold out the helmet to her so she can put it on. I climb onto the bike first and then motion for her to do the same. When I crank the engine her arms instantly go around my waist holding on tight. I suck in a breath surprised but I’m quickly filled with warmth from the feel of her arms around my waist. 

“ You ready?” I ask slightly turning around so I could see her face. 

“ As ready as I’ll ever be.”

With that I turn around and we take off. I didn’t think Alex could hold on any tighter but I was wrong. I’m pretty sure there are going to be indents in my stomach from where her fingers are gripping so tightly. The ride only takes about 10 minutes and I pull up to a small building that’s in the quitter part of town. 

“ I thought this building was closed when I walked past it the other day.” Alex said while letting go of my waist to step off of the bike. 

Right away I miss the heat of her body pressed to mine and I slowly get off the bike to join her. “ Yeah that’s what a lot of people think when they pass this place up. Its open from midnight until 6 in the morning, I know weird times.” I say as Alex gives me a weird look before turning back to stare at the building. 

“ What’s this place called?” She asked while still staring at the building while I lock my bike up. 

“ Purple Haze.” 

“ Well lets go find out what Purple Haze has to offer.” With that Alex started to walk towards the door. I take a deep breath and release it before following her in. 

We walk into the door and our eyes adjust to the low purple lighting that illuminates the place. It’s got an old diner style to it with a counter top and a couple of booths along the wall. The walls are lined with old rock albums and a jukebox is in the corner softly playing out some old tunes. There are only two other people in the joint and they are currently nursing drinks. 

“ You brought me to a bar? Were you thinking of taking advantage of me?” Alex questions me with her eyebrow raised and a smirk on her lips.

“ No! I mean um this is kind of a bar but that’s not why I brought you here.” I say thankful of the low lighting so my blush would hopefully go unnoticed. 

I make my way to the counter where a woman stands behind it wiping down something. She looks up from her actions and a smile crosses her face. 

“ Hey Tobin I haven’t seen you in a while! Where have you been? “ The woman asks while giving Alex a lingering glance. 

“ Oh I’ve been busy you know picking up some extra shifts at work and stuff.” I say before turning to Alex. “ Hey Hope this is Alex she’s new in town and I just decided her tour couldn’t be done without coming here” I add as I motion around the bar. 

“ Well Alex it’s nice to meet you.” Hope says while reaching her hand out to shake Alex’s hand. 

“ Like wise.” Alex says returning the handshake. 

“ Ok Tobs what can I get for you two?” 

I turn to Alex. “ Are you allergic to anything? Do you have any preferences? And do you like ice cream.” I ramble off to Alex.

She looks at me with a grin before saying “ No, no, and of course! I love ice cream!”

I smile before turning back to Hope. “ We’ll have two slices of your blueberry pie with a scoop of ice cream.” 

“ Coming right up.” She says and walks through a door back to the kitchen.

“ Just warning you. You will become extremely addicted to Hope’s desserts, they can’t be beat.” I informed Alex. 

“ Oh really? Well I guess I’m just going to have to test out your theory. “ She replied back to me a grin threatening to make its way across her face. 

Before I can rebuttal Hope comes back with two plates. “ Here you guys go.” She said while putting down the plates and some silverware. 

“ Thanks Hope” I reply back as she makes her way to see how her other customers are doing. 

Alex takes a small bite of her slice of pie and closes her eyes and moans in pleasure at how great it taste. That little act alone sent my heart racing a million miles an hour. 

“ Tobin this is unbelievable! How on earth did you find this place?!” She exclaims and takes a much larger bite of her pie. 

I pause for a moment wondering if I should lower my walls and let Alex see a glimpse of my past. I decided that this little piece of knowledge couldn’t hurt anything. “ Me and my mom used to come here all the time.” I say while swirling the ice cream around with my spoon. 

“ Used to? How come y’all don’t come here anymore? Alex asks curiously.

“ She died about 4 years ago.” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. 

“ Oh my goodness Tobin I’m so sorry I had no idea!” She says and puts her hand over mine. 

“ Its ok it was along time ago.” I confess while trying not to internally flip out that her hand is on top of mine. 

“ You can talk to me anytime you need to Tobin.” Alex says genuinely while looking into my eyes. 

“ Thanks Alex.” I say and turn my hand so I can squeeze hers. We stay there for a few moments until she retracts her hand so she can pick up her fork. She practically inhaled the rest of her pie and ice cream and I cant help but laugh at her and offer up the rest of mine. 

“ Are you sure you don’t want yours?” She ask uncertainly 

“ Yes I’ve had it thousands of times. Please take the rest of mine.” I say with a smile while pushing my plate towards her. 

“ Thanks Toby.” She says with a wink before turning back to the desert  
I stare at her while she finishes the last few bites of my pie with a look of what must be bliss on my face. How in the world did I get lucky enough for this girl to stumble into my life I though to myself. I can see Hope out of the corner of my eye trying to sneakily glance in our direction. I sigh to myself thinking she’s reading way to into this and is probably going to badger me with questions later on. After a while Alex finishes the pie and twirls in her seat catching me gazing at her. Instead of being freaked out that I was just staring at her she snickers and pats my leg with her hand before declaring that she was going to use the bathroom. I sat there watching her go when I hear Hope walk in front of me. 

“ So how long have you known her for?” Hope asks as she grabs the empty plates in front of me. 

“ Oh we only met this morning.” I say casually trying not to make a big deal out of it. 

Unfortunately that doesn’t fool Hope. She stops in her tracks and turns to stare at me with her jaw opened comically. 

“ You only met her this morning?!” She whispered loudly.

“ Yes.” I said while blushing furiously. 

“ And you’re already bringing her here?!” Hope asked while looking at me incredulously.

“ Well you know she said she was hungry and I couldn’t think of anywhere else that was open at this time of night and your place was the first thing that popped into my head. “ I say defensively trying to make excuses. 

“ Tobin since your mom died you haven’t brought anyone here but Kelley and Cheney, and that took months for you to do that. You just met this girl this morning and you already brought her here?” She says still looking at me with a shocked look on her face. 

“ I know I know.” I say while putting my head in my hands. 

“ Wow you’ve got it bad.” Hope said while chuckling at me. 

“ You don’t have to tell me twice.” I said while lifting my head out of my hands to look at her satisfied smirk. 

“ She doesn’t have to tell you what twice?” Alex asks innocently while returning from the bathroom. 

“ That she’s going to get fat from eating all of my deserts.” Hope said without even blinking an eye. 

Alex started to laugh. “ Oh I don’t know about that Hope, Tobin felt like she had a pretty rocking bod whenever I was holding onto her for dear life while on her death machine.” She says while looking at me amused. 

I blush not knowing what to say and scratch the back of my neck while Hope just laughs at my shyness. 

“ I like her Tobs keep her around for as long as possible. Nice meeting you Alex” Hope says with a nod and then returns to the kitchen to put up the plates. 

I glance at my watch and see that its 1:44. “ Holy crap it’s late! I’m sorry for keeping you out so late you’re probably exhausted.” I apologize while standing to pay. 

“ No Toby I had a blast this was really fun!” Alex says chuckling at me. “ Hey wait let me pay you paid for lunch let me pay for this.”

“ Oh its ok Alex I’ve got it.”

“ But I want to! Please?” She asks while sticking out her bottom lip pouting. 

How in the hell was I supposed to say no to that face? “ Fine.” I grumble out. 

Once satisfied that she had gotten her way Alex left the money on the counter and we left the joint while calling out our goodbyes to Hope. We make our way back to my bike and Alex slips her arm through mine. I can’t help the grin that’s on my face as I hand a helmet to her and climb onto the bike. Once again she climbs on behind me but she seems closer this time as she wraps her arms around my waist and lays her head on my back. I try to breathe evenly so she can’t tell how much her closeness affects me. Before I start up the bike I ask Alex for directions to her new house and we begin to make our way back.  
I pull into the driveway of one of the biggest houses I had ever seen. I swallow forcefully before helping Alex off of my bike. “ This is your house?” I ask while trying not to stare at how huge it is. 

“ Yeah my mom picked it out.” She states casually.

“ Wow you are so out of my league.” I mumble under my breath as we make our way to the front door. Alex twists around and puts a finger under my chin lifting my head so my gaze could meet hers. 

“ Hey I had a really fun time tonight Tobin I want you to know that.” She states while trying to get into my line of vision. 

I stare at her for a little bit before building up some courage. “ Do you uh think well um can I maybe see you again?” I ask nervously while shuffling my feet and sticking my hands in my pockets. 

“ I would love to hang out with you again!” Alex said excitedly beaming at me. 

I felt a megawatt expand across my face and can’t help but feel likes there’s a celebration parade going on inside of me. “ Great! Uh you can just meet me at the Sun Sand and Surf shop I’m always there.” I manage to choke out. 

“ Sounds like a plan. Thanks again for an awesome day Toby.” She says and with that she leans in and gives me a lingering kiss on my cheek. I stand there frozen to afraid that if I move the moment might be ruined. She steps back and we grin stupidly at each other. She moves to go inside before I stop her with a question. 

“ Hey Alex what did Kelley whisper to you at the bonfire?” 

“ She said that she’s glad she found a new best friend. But if I hurt you in any way I’m dead meat.” She said smirking at me. I nod my head and bite my lip knowing that that sounds exactly like something Kelley would say. 

“ Thanks for telling me. Goodnight Alex.”

“ Goodnight Tobin.” She said before walking inside and closing the door. 

I stood there for a minute letting everything that happened that day sink in. I start smiling like a lunatic and jumped off her doorstep clicking my heels together while fist pumping the air. I bow to an invisible crowd that was congratulating on not making a complete fool out of myself in front of her. Little did I know Alex was watching my little performance out of the front door window giggling to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

I’m in the back of the shop taking inventory when I hear Abby call out to me. “ Hey kid someone’s here to see you.” 

I drop the clipboard and run through the door only to trip over a box that’s in the doorway. Catching myself only barely from face planting I straighten up expecting to see the blue eyes I couldn’t get out of my head all morning. Instead I was met by someone with a face full of freckles. 

“ Woh watch it there hot shot. Imagine how embarrassing that would have been if your hottie would’ve seen that!” Kelley lets out with a snort. 

“ Shut up Kelley.” I say as disappointment replaces the excitement that had just been racing through my body. I walk towards the back of the shop knowing Kelley would follow me. Abby had no problem with my friends being at work as long as they didn’t distract me too bad or scare off the customers. 

“ Ew stuck with inventory today?” Kelley asks as she sees all the new boxes in the storage room. “ That sucks it’s a gorgeous day outside and the waves look killer.”

“Ugh don’t remind me.” I say grudgingly returning back to the task at hand. 

“Sooooo…” 

“What?”

“ How was the rest of your night Alex?” Kelley asked while waggling her eyebrows suggestively. 

“ Is your mind always in the gutter?”

“ No! Its just too easy of an opportunity to tease you” Kelley says while laughing. “Where’d you take her?”

“We went to Purple Haze.” I gingerly reply. I hear a thud and turn around to find Kelley dramatically lying on the floor. “ Um what are you doing?” I ask as I make my way over a nudge her leg with my foot. 

“ I’ve died from shock.” She says trying to keep her lips from moving too much so she could continue pretending to be dead. 

“ I’m pretty sure if you were dead you wouldn’t be talking.” I let out with a laugh. 

She huffs and moves herself into a sitting position with her legs tucked under her before looking up at me seriously. “ Did you really bring her to Purple Haze?” All I did was nod my head while tapping my fingers on my leg. 

“ Wow you’ve got it bad.” 

“ Why does everyone keep saying that?!” 

“ Wait who else told you that?” Kelley asks confused now.

“ Hope did last night.” 

“ Oh man you know if Hope said something then I am totally right.” Kelley said while grinning at me. 

“ Whatever.” I say and turn around blushing. 

“ So when are you going to see her again?” Kelley asks moving to sit on the futon that’s across the room. 

“ I don’t know I said just to come swing down by the shop when I dropped her off last night because I don’t really have a phone or anything.” I said while checking off something on my list. 

Kelley just nods her head. I glance over to her and she has a far away look on her face and she’s squinting her eyes thinking. I’m about to ask what she’s thinking about when I hear that beautiful raspy voice behind me. 

“ Hey guys what’s up Abby said that I could just come back here!” Alex said while smiling at me. 

I grin nervously back at her. She’s in blue jean shorts and a white tank top with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. I know its crazy but every time I see her she somehow takes my breath away but before I could say anything Kelley basically throws herself at Alex hugging her. 

“ Oh my gosh Alex you have just saved me from hours of boredom watching Tobs put away all of this inventory!” Kelley exclaims comically while dragging Alex to the futon. I give her an apologetic shrug and mouthed sorry. She just giggled at me and sat down with Kelley to gossip while I worked. I cant help the bubble of happiness that swells inside of me when I see her with my best friend chatting away like they’ve known each other for years. I turn back to the box of sunscreen happily stocking the shelves.  
I’m on my last box when I feel a pair of arms slip around my waist and hug me from behind. I smile and melt into the hug before twisting around and return the hug. I can smell the scent of her shampoo and inhale the sweet vanilla fragrance. We slowly let go of each other but not before she plants a quick kiss on my cheek. 

“ Hey.” She said quietly grinning. 

“ Hey. I’m really glad you came today. Sorry if Kelley was talking your ear off.” I say while glancing over her shoulder to see Kelley was absent from the couch. She just laughed at me saying it was fine. 

“ Um I’m almost done here. You want to get some lunch when I finish?”

“ Oh my god I thought you would never ask I’m starving!” Kelley says as she was walking into the room and collapses on the couch. Alex and I both laugh at her silly antics. Once I finished the last box I called out to Abby saying I was getting some lunch I would be back in a little bit.

We started to walk down the road to the pier and Alex took my hand in hers. When we got to the pier we had a tough decision to make. Looking at all the stands I laid out our options. “ Ok well we’ve got fish tacos, Mexican, burgers, hotdogs, fish and chips, or burritos.”

“ What’s your favorite Toby?” Alex asks swinging around to look at me.

“ Oh that’s easy.” I say smiling at her. “Fish Tacos!”

She giggles at how excited I get over the food. “ Ok well I’m going to have to trust you on this one since I’ve never had them before.” She states while looking around the pier.

I stare at her dumbfound. “ You’ve never had fish tacos before?!” I ask disbelievingly. 

“ Nope.” She said while popping the p. 

I grab her hand and march to the food truck and buy two orders of fish tacos before she can even complain about me buying for her again. The order comes out shortly and we make our way to the picnic table that Kelley is sitting at with her burrito. I take a bite of mine and let out a sigh of satisfaction. I turn to Alex who is in mid bite and again groans with delight of how delicious her food is. 

“ Tobin how do you always pick out the yummiest things?” She asks with a look of joy on her face. 

I just shrug my shoulders slightly flustered and turn back to my tacos. I look across the table and chuckle to myself. Kelley is like a five year old when she eats. She’s got guacamole on her face from her burrito and is picking up all of the condiments that are falling out of her burrito with her fingers. She hears my chuckle and looks across the table before sticking her tongue out at me. We enjoy the rest of my lunch break before making our way back to the shop. 

As I man the desk waiting for a customer to decide between SPF 30 or SPF 45 sunscreen, I watch Alex slowly walk around the shop observing everything. Abby had already left the shop so it was just Alex, Kelley, and I. She stops in front of a section where there are small woodcarvings. They range from surfers on a wave, to animals, to flowers. My breath catches in my throat as I watch her slowly pick up each piece and look at it. By this time the customer had chosen the sunscreen they wanted and I checked them out quickly. Once the customer is gone Alex turns around looking at me.

“ These carvings are pretty cool. Does a local artist do them?” she asked while holding one of them in her hands. 

“ Actually that local artist is standing right behind the desk.” Kelley pipes up from her spot on the counter as she flips through a surf magazine. 

“ You carved these Tobin?! “ Alex spins around looking at me surprised. 

“ Yeah its no big dealt though.” I said while scratching the back of my neck.

“ No big deal?! Tobin these are amazing I didn’t know you were artistic!” Alex exclaims while putting down the carving and picking up another. 

“ There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” I say with a smirk as I walk towards Alex

“ Well I hope I can find out more.” She says giving me a sly glance, as I get closer to her. ”Where do you carve these?” 

I point upstairs where there is a small studio attached to my bedroom. 

“ Upstairs? Can you show me?!” She asks eagerly tugging on my hand. 

At this statement Kelley looks up from her magazine giving me a wide-eyed look. I peek at Kelley for a second feeling my heart pounding in my chest until I turn back to Alex. She has look of pure excitement and I can feel myself caving once I look into her eyes. 

“ Uh yeah sure we just need to wait until closing time” I glance at my watch and realize that’s only 15 minutes away. Kelley’s jaw drops open and she just stares at me with disbelief and then shakes her head and goes back to her magazine. 

I think those were the fastest 15 minutes of my life. As I close up shop Kelley hops off the counter and makes her way to the door. 

“ I’m headed out I’ll see you guys later. Have fun!” Kelley says and sends a sneaky wink my way. That only causes me to roll my eyes at her. I take Alex hand in mine and lead her up the spiral staircase. I hesitate on the staircase before pushing open the trapdoor that leads into the upper part of the shop where I lived. I help Alex through the door and then close it. I spread my arms wide and circle around.  
“ Well this is where I live.” 

My room was pretty small there was a bed on one side of the wall with a nightstand and lamp next to it. On the other side of my bed I had a small bookshelf that I had made that held all of the books that I loved. Across from the bed i had a dresser for my clothes and closet that I basically didn't use. To the right side of the bed there were sliding glass doors that opened up to a balcony that looked over the ocean. That was by far my favorite thing about my room. Abby had even let me put pegs into one of the beams holding the balcony up so I could just climb up it without having to go through the whole shop. It allowed me to come and go as I please even though I spent most of my free time in the small studio carving.

“ You live above the shop?”

“ Yeah…” I say while scuffing my shoes on the floor. 

“ How come you live here?” She asks while stepping closer to me.

I can’t look at her in the face knowing that she’ll see the worried expression on my face. I don’t think I can tell her the rest of my story yet. She closes the gap in between us and lays one of her hands over my heart, which I’m sure felt like a stampede. She kept her hand there until I glanced up at her and saw the concerned look in her eye. 

“ When are you going to lower your armor and let me in there.” She whispers while drumming her fingers over my heart and moving her other hand up to cup my cheek. 

I clench and unclench my jaw after I glimpse at her, seeing nothing but compassion on her face. “Soon.” I breathe out and turn my head to kiss her palm closing my eyes. We stand there like that for a long time. I open my eyes and stare at her hoping all of the emotions that are jumbling inside of me show in my eyes. She smiles at me and takes my hands in her. 

“ Do you want to see where I work?” I ask willing to share this small part of me. 

“ I would love to see where you work.” She replies grinning at me. 

I lead her across my small room to a door that led to the studio. I pause turning back to look at her before she gives me an encouraging smile. I open the door and let her step through. The studio wasn’t big but it was my safe haven. Wood shavings littered the floor along with random pieces of wood. On one side of the room I had a large desk that had candles scattered on it with a chair and stool surrounding it. The ceiling had a large sun roof which allowed fresh light to filter in. On the wall all of my tools hung neatly in place. The other side of the room had a shelf filled with my favorite carvings that I couldn’t part with. The room smelled of pine and lemon. I silently watch Alex closely as she takes in the small room.  
I make my way to sit in the chair too nervous to stand any longer. She makes her way to my shelf and looks at each carving intently. She picks up one and I chuckle causing her to look at me over her shoulder. 

“ That’s the first thing I ever carved.” I informed her as I saw that she had the clumsily sculpted lizard. 

“ When did you make this?”

“ I did that one when I was 14 a couple of weeks after my Mom died.” I say as I recall that day. 

She gently puts the lizard back down and makes her way towards me. “ Is that what made you start to carve?” 

I nod my head before answering. “ I needed something that would let me escape from the world that surrounded me at that point in my life. “ 

“ Was it that bad?” 

I glance at her before looking down and fiddling with my fingers. 

“ A little too soon?” She ask as she stands right in front of me and then precedes to sit on my lap and put one arm around my neck. 

I let out a sigh of relief that she’s starting to understand me a little more before I nod my head and gaze at her. She begins to play with the hairs on the back of my neck and I can’t control the goose bumps that break out on my body. 

“ Toby?”

“ Yeah Lex?”

“Lex?” Alex asks while quirking her eyebrow at me. 

“ Well yeah if you get to call me Toby I get to call you Lex.” I say while grinning at her.

“ Ok well Toby,” she resumes smirking before getting a nervous look on her face. “Will you make me something?”

“What would you like?”

“ Well I was thinking maybe you could make me something that I could store stuff in you know like a box or something.” She says while playing with the end of her shirt. 

“ Hmm I don’t know.” I cock my head to the side pretending like I was thinking whether to agree or not. I would have made anything for her in a heartbeat but I just wanted to tease her a little bit. 

“ Oh ok.” She says as a look of disappointment crosses her face.

“ Hey,” I say while grabbing her hand and giving it a quick kiss. “ I was just kidding. I’ll make you anything you want.” 

She beams at me happy with my response and I cant help but smile back at her. As we continue to stare at each other my eyes travel down to her lips. I want to kiss her so badly but I don’t want to rush it. I continuously glance up at her eyes and back to her lips and realize that she’s doing the same to me. I lean in slowly and she does the same. Right before our lips touch I hesitate as a million emotions fly through my body questioning what I was about to do. I ignore all of them and lean into to touch her lips with mine. The kiss was gentle at first and Alex moves her hand to cup my face while the other gets tangled in the hair at the base of my neck. After a few moments of kissing her gently a fire ignites in my chest and I begin to kiss her more passionately. She immediately responds by kissing my lips with a little more force. Its like I don’t have control of my body as my hands begin to move their way to Alex’s stomach, one wrapping around her waist bringing her closer to me and the other traveling up to lightly rest on her ribs. I feel her tongue delicately tracing mine silently asking for entrance. I can’t help the moan that escapes my lips as we deepen the kiss even more our tongues dancing with each other. I need to come up for air soon but instead of breaking the moment I simply move my lips to her neck kissing her pulse point. She lean her head further to the side giving me more access to her neck. I run my nose along her jawline before kissing the spot right behind her ear. I hear her utter a sharp gasp and I smile knowing I’m not the only one seriously affected by this kiss. I slowly make my way down her neck until I graze her collarbone with my teeth before quickly running my tongue over it. 

“ Oh my god Tobin.” Alex heavily breathes out while tightening her grip on my hair. 

I kiss her one more time on her neck before traveling back to meet her lips once again. We kiss for a several more minutes until I break the it and lean my forehead against hers with my eyes still closed slightly panting from the moment that we just shared. I slightly shift away so I can see her face. She opens her eyes and a goofy grin spreads across my face as I see she’s just as disoriented as I am.

“ I like you Lex.” I quietly breathe out as I took in as much as her face as my eyes would allow. 

“ I like you too Toby.” She whispers back and kisses me on the nose as if that sealed the deal. 

We sat there holding each other (and ok maybe making out a little more) until it grew dark outside and I knew Alex had to get home. I walked her downstairs and into the front of the shop. She kissed me one last time before walking to her car shouting that she’ll see me tomorrow. I wave to her and stood in the doorway until I couldn’t see her tail lights any more. I practically skip up to my room and launch myself onto my bed staring at the ceiling smiling. Is it possible for your heart to explode from happiness?


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning I find myself whistling and dancing while making some coffee in the shop’s kitchen downstairs while listening to some old tunes. I’m only in my boxers and sports bra because its 6:30 and we don’t open until 8. As I dance around the kitchen in a bubbly mood due to last night, I hear a knock on the door. Thinking its Abby with her hands full or not wanting to unlock the door I make my way to the front of the store without bothering to put on shirt. I open the door to find Alex standing there looking gorgeous with a box in her hands. 

“ Alex?!”

“Tobin!” 

We stare at each other for a few seconds and I realize I’m not wearing a shirt, as she not so subtly checked out my body. We began talking at the exact same time.

“ What are you doing here?”

“ Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

We both begin laughing at each other. I usher her in while holding the door open with my arm. We walk into the back room and she sets the donuts on the kitchen counter next to the coffee pot. 

“ What’s in the box?” I ask as move behind her slipping my arms around her waist and putting my chin on her shoulder. 

“Donuts!” She said enthusiastically while opening the box with flourish. 

“ Oh my gosh! Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had donuts?” I ask while reaching around her to get plates. She turns around in my arms and I grab ahold of her hips and give her a brief kiss before I lightheartedly shove her out of the way. 

“ Hey! I see how it is I bring you donuts and you push me to the side.” Alex said jokingly. 

“ Sorry Lex I’ll make it up to you.” I say through a mouthful of chocolate donut. 

She pretends to pout so I put down my second donut and walk up to where she’s leaning against the counter. I pick her up and place her on the counter and she starts giggling.

“ What?” I asked confused

“ You’ve got a little chocolate on your face.” She said grinning and leans forward to kiss it off my face. I let her kiss the corner of my lips for a few seconds before I turn and fully place my lips against hers. She wraps her arms around my neck and tugs me closer to her. I instantly get lost in the kiss as her vanilla scent overpowers my senses. I playfully nip at her bottom lip which provokes a groan out of Alex and only makes me want to deepen the kiss more. I’m so caught up in the kiss I don’t feel how her hands that were previously running down my bare stomach have stopped in one specific spot. She pulls back quickly and looks down at my stomach confused about something while I’m still recovering from the kiss. I feel her fingers moving over one spot receptively and I follow her gaze to see what she’s doing. I freeze once I realize she’s running her fingers over one of the larger scars that are scattered across my stomach. I watch her closely as several different emotions cross over her face. First it’s confusion and shock until sadness and grim understanding shortly follow. She looks up at my stony face searching it for any type of insight of where they came from. 

“ Tobin what happened-“ Alex begins to question but is cut off by Abby who just walked through the door. 

“ Woh Tobin I know I gave you the bedroom upstairs but I didn’t give you the kitchen counter also.” She says jokingly taking in the scene of Alex on the counter and me in between her legs without a shirt on. 

“ Abby it’s not what it looks like!” I say trying to defend my self immediately while turning redder than a cherry. “ Alex surprised me this morning with donuts and I thought it was you so I opened the door without putting on a shirt!”

“ Its alright kid I’m just joking with you! Hey Alex!” Abby said with a wink and chuckle before making some coffee for herself and grabbing a donut. 

“ Don’t take too long Tobin I need you to straighten everything up and restock before the weekend rush hour hits us.” She says while walking out of the room. 

“ I think I might die of humiliation.” I say while placing my forehead on Alex’s shoulder. 

She just giggles and runs her hands through my hair. “ Oh it wasn’t that bad.” I just scoff at that comment and keep my head on her shoulder. 

“ Hey.” She said grabbing my attention. I lift my shoulder off of her head and look up at her only to be met with a concerned face. “ Can we continue our conversation from earlier later on?” 

I study her face while having a debate in my head. I eventually sigh and nod my head. She just smiles and tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear. I stand there simply enraptured by her before an idea pops into my mind. 

“ Hey Lex?”

“ Yes Toby?”

“ Would you go on a date with me tonight?” I ask as I nervously bite my lip.

“ No.” She says with a straight face.

“ Oh um sorry I just thought-“ I say trying to backtrack.

“ Tobin I’m just joking! Of course I want to go on a date with you! But I just can’t go on a date with you tonight my family and I are going to be out of town until tomorrow for a business dinner in Los Angeles.” She said smiling at me. 

“ Whew ok well can I pick you up at your house at 3 tomorrow then?”

“ Yes sounds perfect we’ll be getting home around 1! That’s actually why I came so early so I could see you before I left for the day.” She said simply turning around to take a bite of a donut.

I didn’t know how to respond so I just hugged her from behind while kissing her cheek. She giggled as she chewed on the rest of her donut.

“ So what should I wear?” She asks after a moment of peaceful silence.

“ Casual is fine nothing too fancy.”

“Casual as in what you’re wearing?” She asks teasingly while messing with the waistband of my boxers. 

“ Um no what your wearing is fine.” I managed to say flustered from her actions and pointed to the simple outfit she was wearing. 

She smirked at me before leaning in and giving me a peck on my lips. She winks at me before sauntering out the door. “ I’ll see you tomorrow Toby!” She said over her shoulder as she exits the building. 

I let out a sigh and run a hand through my hair. I turn back to my coffee and smile when I see the box of donuts. 

“ Well that relationship happened pretty quick.” I turn to find Abby leaning against the doorframe looking at me with one of her eyebrows raised.

I just mumble under my breath swirling back around busying myself with making my coffee. 

“ Just don’t get hurt kid.” I don’t have to turn to know that Abby’s face is one of concern I can hear it in her voice. 

Before I can respond there’s a knock on the door

“Geeze what is it today with all the early risers.” I say as Abby makes her way to the front to check who it was. 10 seconds later the whole gang is walking in through the doorway. Ashlyn sits on the couch and Ali promptly sits on her lap while Cheney sits next to them. Kelley, Sydney, and Pinoe spot the box of donuts and start pushing each other out of the way trying to reach it first. 

“ Aha! Victorious!” I see Pinoe yell out while holding up the last chocolate donut triumphantly. 

“ Not for long!” Says Syd before jumping up, grabbing the donut, and running off with it in her mouth.

“ Syd your such a pig!” Pinoe calls out as she runs after her. We all laugh as we see Pinoe chasing Syd around the room while Syd is trying to eat the donut but she’s laughing too hard to swallow. I shake my head at my friends and turn to find Kelley standing by the empty box of donuts pouting. 

“ That was no fair. I’m too short.” She said grumbling before making her way to sit on the couch next to Cheney who put her arms around her. 

“ It’s ok Kell we’ll get you some later.” She said comforting her. 

“Really?! Awesome!” Kelley says all of her eagerness now back. 

“ So Tobs how is Alex.” Ali asks me from her spot on Ashyln’s lap. 

“Great she came by this morning and brought me those donuts. Oh and um I’m taking her out on a date tomorrow.” I say with a shrug of my shoulders trying to downplay how excited I was for it. 

I hear a small screech behind me and whirl around to find Pinoe sitting on Sydney both of them frozen, their fight forgotten about. 

“ You’ve got a date Tobs?!” Sydney squeals out while pushing Pinoe off of her so she could skip over to me. 

“ And it’s with that hottie?!” Pinoe ask while her face still humorously shocked. 

“ Her name is Alex.” I quietly mutter. 

“Aww my little baby is growing up!” Cheney says acting like she was wiping away tears. 

“ That’s awesome Tobs I’m really happy for you.” Ashlyn says smiling at me. 

“ Thanks Ash. Well if you guys don’t mind I’m going to go change for work.” With that I hurriedly made my escape before Pinoe and Syd could start teasing. I love them but man do they know how to embarrass me. 

Once I change the girls stay for a while longer just talking to me as I cleaned up the front of the shop. When the store opened and they saw more people make their way into the shop they left so I could focus, wishing me good luck on my date tomorrow. The next day goes by at a snails pace and Abby has to send me away on a long lunch because I'm annoying her from fiddling so much. 

“ Hey Tobs I know you have a date today with Alex so I’ll take over and close up shop so you can get ready on time.” Abby says as she slides up next to me bumping my shoulder.

“ Thanks Abby you’re the best.” I say grinning at her before running up the stairs. 

I stare at myself in the mirror before giving myself a confident nod and begin to walk down the stairs. I had chosen to wear black skinny jeans and converse with a white V-neck. I also brought along a blue hoodie just in case it got cold outside. As I’m about to walk out the door I hear Abby hollers out to me. 

“ Have fun tonight kid! And your off tomorrow since it’s Saturday so you can stay out as late as you want.” She said while winking at me and shuffling off to the back of the store. 

“ Thanks Abby!” I called back and make my way out the door to my motorcycle. I make it to Alex’s house in pretty good time I looked down at my watch to see that it read 2:57. Good job Heath I thought to myself as I walk up to her front door. I take a deep breath before knocking on the door. A couple of seconds go by until a middle-aged man in dress clothes opens the door. Assuming its Alex’s dad I stick out my hand to introduce myself. 

“ Hello sir I’m Tobin. I’m here to pick up Alex.” I say trying to act more confident than I really am.

He accepts my hand in his while welcoming me in. “ Hello Tobin, Miss Morgan said that you would be getting here at 3, I’m glad to see that you’re early.”

My eyebrows scrunch together after hearing him speak. Miss Morgan?

“ Oh I’m not Alex’s father. I’m Jacob their butler.” He said clarifying things up quickly. 

“ Uh nice to meet you Jacob.” I say making an effort of not showing how surprised I am. They have a butler? Christ I can hardly afford to take Alex out I thought to myself. Suddenly I got even more nervous that maybe this date wouldn’t be up to Alex’s standards and I would ruin the one chance I had with this girl. It must have shown on my face because Jacob put a hand on my shoulder.

“ It’ll be fine. Plus Alex hasn’t shut up all day about this date.” Jacob says with a kind smile and a roll of his eyes. 

Jacob’s comment made me instantly like him. He had a warm aurora around him that was comforting. I let out a breath and smile a little bit more. I’m about to start talking to him again when I hear my name called out from behind me. 

“Tobin!”

I turn to find Alex hurriedly making her way towards me. I see that’s she’s wearing dark jeans with sandals and a loose black top before she crashes into me for a hug. I chuckle before replying back. “ Hey Alex.” I hold her for a second and pull back to look at her, not being able to help the smile that spreads across my face. She takes my hand in hers and twirls back to face Jacob. 

“ Ok we’re headed out I’ll see you later Jacob.” Alex states while dragging me towards the door. 

“ Have fun Miss Morgan. It was nice to meet you Tobin.” Jacob calls out with a wave. 

“ Likewise!” I manage to call out as Alex pulls me through the door.

We walk to my bike hand in hand until we reach it. This time Alex climbs on it without hesitation causing my grin to grow larger. I climb on and she wraps her arms around my waist. I don’t think I could ever get sick of this feeling. We start to drive to my surprise destination. As we pull up and park, Alex gets off and stares at the building before turning to me with a look of pure joy on her face.

“ Your taking me mini golfing?!” She asks while bouncing on her toes in excitement. 

“ Yeah I hope you like it.” I say grabbing her hand and leading her to the entrance. 

“I’ve never been! I’ve always wanted to but my Mom or Dad never took me.” She said while looking around eagerly.

“ Well this is your lucky day. I just happen to be the champion of mini golf.” I state cockily while handing over money to the lady in the booth. 

“ Pshh we’ll see about that.” She says while grabbing a club and a pink ball. I grin and grab my own club and a blue ball. 

Even though Alex had never been mini golfing before, she was pretty good. The game got pretty intense the last few holes and we were tied up going into the last hole. As Alex got ready to take her shot I notice how cute she looks when she’s concentrating. Her eyebrows are scrunched together while she’s biting her lip determined to make the shot. I can’t help myself as my eyes travel down to stare at her butt and think how good they look in those jeans.

“ Toby?” 

“ What?” I say as I blush furiously knowing I just got caught staring due to the smirk on her face. 

“Focus on the game.” 

“ Gotcha.” 

She turns her attention back to the ball before hitting it with her club. Of course it goes right into the hole. She whirls around with a wicked smile on her face as she walks slowly back to me. I feel my pulse start to race as she kept getting closer. She ran her fingers across my collarbone before leaning in and whispering in my ear. 

“Beat that if you can.” She backs away with a cocky grin while I try and get my heart under control. 

I line up my ball and take the shot. Not surprisingly I miss. I turn back to her before complaining. 

“ You cheated that wasn’t even fair.”

“Hey there were no rules about distracting opponents.” She said before sauntering off to return her putting gear. I follow her not really caring that I lost but that she just had a good time. She had a big smile on her face as she thanked the lady who took her stuff back so I’m guessing I succeeded. I take her hand in mine as we walk back to the parking lot. 

“ Are you hungry?”

“ Actually I’m starving! I didn’t want to eat any of the food on the plane so I haven’t had lunch.”

“ Ok sounds good.”

I bring her to a nice café that I knew had killer food from the few times I’d been there with Abby. As we look at the menu she asked me what I thought was nice. 

“ I’m getting the French dip because it’s out of this world.” I say as I lay my menu down. 

“ Hmm I think I’m going to get the chicken orzo pasta.” 

Our waiter takes our orders and returns to the kitchen to put them in. We sit enjoying each others company laughing while I tell silly stories about Kelley and our adventures. She tells me more about her life in New York and how she had loved the city, but loves the open space here more. Our food arrives and we begin to eat. 

“ Oh my goodness this is so good!” Alex says while taking another bite of her pasta

“ I bet not as good as mine.” I challenge jokingly. 

We continue to talk over our food. Once we finish and the plates are cleared away I lean back in my chair and gaze at the beautiful girl that was in front of me. We smile goofily at each other from across the table before she takes my hand in hers. I lean forward slowly and she does the same. 

“ Can I show you something?” I ask her quietly as soon as we’re closer. 

“ Of course.” She replied back simply.

We stood and I left money on the table for the meal before proceeding to walk out. I climb onto my bike and she does the same. I drive along the coast until we start to go up a hill and the area becomes more of a woods. I stop on the side of the road where there is a small patch of dirt. With nothing else around Alex gets off the bike with a puzzled look on her face. I just motion for her to follow me as I take her hand. I start walking towards the woods where I know there is a small path that would be unnoticed by anyone who didn’t know it was there. We’re about halfway through the short walk before Alex speaks up.

“ Are you bringing me out here to kill me.” She whispers sarcastically. 

“ That depends.” I say playing along

“ On what?”

“ On whether your having a good time or not.” I say still towing her along the path almost to what I wanted to show her. 

I feel her drag me backwards to her pulling me close. “ Tobin I’ve had a wonderful time so far. Thank you.” She said before kissing me gently on the lips. I smile at her before walking the last few feet before reaching our destination. 

“ Close your eyes.” I ask when I know we’re close. 

She obeys and nervously bites her lip. I guide her the rest of the way with my hand on the small of her back. Once we reach the opening I say that she can open them. I hear her gasp as I see the look of awe on her face. We were standing on a large stone outcrop that showed the most amazing view of the ocean as far as the eye could see. The sun was setting causing the scene to be even more beautiful. She turns to me in astonishment. 

“ How did you find this Toby?’ She asks in pure wonder.

“ Me and my mom stumbled upon it whenever I was like 10 and I’ve been coming here ever since.” I say as I lead her to a spot where the rocks made a natural seat. I placed my arm around her and she leaned into me putting her head on my shoulder. We stay like that for a few minutes just enjoying the warmth of one another. I start to get nervous and stiffen up slightly. Feeling the difference in my body Alex lifts her head and looks at me confused. 

I take a deep breath and look up from my lap into Alex’s eyes. “ I think I’m ready to let you in.”


	6. Chapter 6

Alex sat up from her spot on my shoulder and moved her body so she was giving me her full attention. Her eyes encouraged me to start talking and that gave me the little push I needed.

 

“ My family always seemed perfect to me. My mom took care of me and that’s all I really needed. It was always just me and her. My dad would always come home late and my Mom would tell me it was just work. I was always in bed asleep by the time he came home raging drunk. I never met his side of the family that lived a couple of blocks over in a worst part of town. My Mom told me they were busy and that’s why we never saw them. I didn’t know she was protecting me from the real world that surrounded me. I would spend the time I wasn’t in school with her and we would always go on adventures to get out of the house. We would go surfing or hiking through the woods which is how we found this spot. My life, in my eyes, was great. I had Kelley and Cheney as my friends and I had a fantastic Mom, sure we didn’t have a lot of money but that didn’t bother me.” I pause for a moment before continuing on.

 

“ When my Mom died everything changed. I was at Cheney’s house when it happened. A drunk driver hit her while she was out getting groceries and she died instantly. Everything was a blur for those next few days with the funeral and what not. I was crushed. My best friend had been taken away from me.” I choke out as tears form in my eyes. Alex grabbed my hand and gently squeezed it reassuring me that she was there. I swallow back the tears and lump in my throat before moving on with my story.

 

“ Nothing happened for the first two weeks after her death. Everything continued on accept the absence of my Mom in the house was painstakingly obvious. One night I was up late doing homework for class the next day when I heard a racket in the kitchen. Curious I walk out of my room to find my dad thrashing about the room drunk. He caught a glimpse of me and stalked over to me roughly pushing me up against the wall. He screamed at me telling me it was my fault that my mom died before slapping me across the face. I was shocked and a little dazed from the hit so I hurried back to my room without saying a word. I thought it was a one-time thing and that he was drunk. I never should have made that excuse for him. He started hitting me more often; it was like I was his own personal punching bag. Something would go wrong at work or he lost more money at the casino and he would take it out on me. As time went on he got more violent and I did anything I could to escape from that house.“

 

“ That’s when I started to pick up carving. School had just let out for the summer so I had a lot more time on my hands. That also meant I saw my dad more often. I would wake up early in the morning and be gone all day sneaking into my window at night. One day I was sitting out here and I started to fiddle with a stick using my Swiss army knife. I ended up whittling that lizard you picked up the other day.” I snicker to myself at that memory. “ I remember being so excited and proud that I had made it. Soon after that carving became away to let me escape. I would do it late at night by candlelight praying that my dad wouldn’t find me. Once I got better at it and actually made stuff that I could sell, I went to some local shops and got them to buy it from me. I used that money to buy myself food and other necessities. That’s how I was able to provide for myself all those years.”

 

“  A couple of months before I turned eighteen, my dad tried to pressure me into helping him and other members of his family by dealing drugs. “ I say clenching my jaw at the memory. “ I refused every time. I wouldn’t do anything to help that man. He would get so angry. So angry. I lived at Kelley’s house for a week one time because I was scared that he might have killed me if I rejected him one more time. On the day of my eighteenth birthday I ran away because I was an adult and he no longer had control over me. That was the happiest day of my life. “

 

Alex was quiet for a long time trying to let everything sink in. She looked at me with tears in her eyes.” I’m so sorry Tobin. You didn’t deserve to live like that.” She says before leaning in and giving me a gentle kiss. I return it before pulling back and wiping the tears off of her cheeks.

 

“ Please don’t cry about my past. Its over with and I’m never going back to it.” I say before pulling her into a hug. We sat there for a while watching the sunset.

 

“ Did Kelley and Cheney know the whole time?” I hear her ask.

 

“ No. They figured it out a year after the beatings started. I was changing in the school locker room after gym class. I had some bruises and a nasty cut on my ribs at the time and they walked in while I had my shirt off. They confronted me declaring that they wouldn’t leave me alone until I told them the truth. I eventually told them everything. From that day on I always found lunch money that had been slid into my locker or they would slip things like shampoo into my backpack when I wasn’t looking. They never owned up to it not once since the day I told them. Abby says that I couldn’t find any other two goofballs with bigger hearts” I chuckle grateful beyond belief at the two amazing friends I had.

 

“ How does Abby play into all of this?” Alex asked quietly.

 

I grow silent for a moment reliving that day from over a year ago in my head

 

_I ran as fast as I could. I clutched my ribs knowing that they were bruised if not broken from where he had hit me before I could run away. I had nothing but a backpack filled with clothes that I had meticulously packed last night, a small amount of cash that I had saved over the years, and my carving tools that were wrapped in an old t-shirt. Today was my eighteenth birthday which meant I was finally free of the prison I had been living in. I had been planning my getaway for the past month. I thought my father would be out all night drinking again but he came home early completely plastered. I could feel the blood running down the side of my face from the cut I got when he threw a broken beer bottle at me in anger when he found me leaving. Unsure of where to go I slowed to a shuffling jog knowing that I needed to get out of the torrential down pour that just started. I’m walking now trying to fight off the shivers that are racking my body when I spot a garage with a cracked window from my spot on the sidewalk. I rush over to the window, after checking that no one was inside, I push it open. Pain shoots through my body when I have to climb through the window; once inside I collapse to the ground drained from the effort I just gave. As I lean against the wall I take in my surroundings. There’s an old green jeep that takes up the majority of the garage but the rest of it is filled with knick-knacks the owner had probably collected over the years. I look up and small grin finds my face. The entire ceiling is covered in surfboards of all different sizes and colors. I glance around the room and my eyes fall on a woolen blanket that’s folded up on a bench. I make my way to it and pull it around me lying on the floor trying to get comfortable. I fall asleep staring at the beautiful boards above me._

_I wake up to something tapping my foot. I’m still exhausted from the night before and just move my leg a little. The tapping came again this time a little more insistent. I open my eyes to find a figure standing in front of me.  My eyes shoot open and I immediately try and scoot back causing an involuntary gasp to shoot past my lips due to the pain in my ribs from the sudden movement._

_“What are you doing in my garage?” the woman asks._

_“ I-um it was raining and I had no other place to go.” I say nervously looking anywhere but the women._

_“What’s your name?”_

_“ Tobin. Tobin Heath.” I answer regretfully. She’s probably going to call the cops on me now that she knows I’m a Heath I thought to myself._

_“ Heath huh?”_

_I just nod my head looking down at my lap._

_What were you doing out in the rain last night? That was a heck of a storm.”_

_I look up at the women standing in front of me surprised she hadn’t already called the cops. She was really tall and intimidating but didn’t have the look of disgust on her face that I was expecting. Actually it was just the opposite she looked slightly dismayed._

_“ I ran away from home.” I confess thinking that honesty is the best way to go with her._

_“ How old are you?”_

_“ I’m eighteen today ma’am.”_

_She’s looking me up and down and I can see the gears turning in her head. I sat there in silence with my heart racing while she stood just staring at me with an expression on her face that I couldn’t read. After a few minutes she finally lets out a sigh before turning around motioning me to follow her. I gingerly get up to my feet wincing I grab my backpack and follow her hesitantly. I can see that we are headed for her house. I nervously clench and unclench my hands as she leads me into her kitchen telling me to sit in one of the chairs as she makes her way out of the room. I sit down slowly and patiently wait for her to return. She comes back with a first aid kit a couple of clean rags, and a set of dry clothes. She sets those on the table and moves to the sink where she fills a bowl with warm water. Once she’s got everything she needs, she sits down in front of me and begins pulling stuff out of the kit. She dips one of the rags in the water and moves to clean my face. I think she sees the scared look on my face because she pauses._

_“ Hey I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to clean your cut so it doesn’t get infected.” She says gently and I notice her eyes are warm with concern. I nod my head and close my eyes giving her permission. The touch I feel next is so tender I can hardly feel it I as she wipes the dried blood off of my face and neck. “ I’m Abby by the way.” She introduces herself. When she’s cleaned off the dried blood she turns towards the hydrogen peroxide bottle._

_“ Now this is going to sting and I’m sorry about that.” She says while slowing raising her hand slowly. I nod again and only wince a little when it makes contact with my cut. She cleans the cut before putting ointment on it and a bandage because it wasn’t deep enough to need stiches._

_“Are there any other injuries I need to know about?”_

_For some unknown reason I again found myself compelled to tell this woman the truth. I don’t know what it was about her. “ Um my ribs are pretty banged up but its nothing I can’t handle.”_

_“Listen kid I cant help you unless you let me.” She states while screwing the top back on the hydrogen peroxide. I hesitate before I slowly stand and I lift my shirt to reveal my ribs._

_“ Christ Almighty.” I hear her mutter under her breath and I lower my eyes to check on my ribs for the first time. My stomach was a rainbow of colors from the bruises. My left side where I had taken most of the blows was a deep purple and blue. I can see the anger cross Abby’s face before its smothered quickly. Embarrassed I lower my shirt but she softly touches my hand silently asking me to keep my shirt lifted. I do so and she turns to get something out of the kit. When she faces me again she has a tube of something and a large bandage roll. She dabs some of the ointment onto her fingers before gently rubbing it on to the affected areas. I gasp at the coldness of the cream and her head snaps up. I nod for her to continue and she turns her attention back to the task at hand._

_“ This cream will help with the soreness of your bruises. It helps relieve the inflammation deep in your muscles.” Abby says while still rubbing the ointment in. Once rubbing the cream into all of my bruises she wraps the bandage around my ribs and pins it together. I carefully lower my shirt so it wouldn’t snag onto the bandage._

_“ I brought you some clothes because those are covered in blood and dirt and I know the ones you’ve got in your backpack are probably still soaked.” She says as she nods her head to the backpack at my feet._

_“ Thank you so much.” I answer while looking up at her with my head bowed. I grab the clothes and make my way to the door she point out to be the bathroom. I change quickly surprised at how well the clothes fit me due to how much taller Abby is then me. I come out of the bathroom to find Abby putting away all of the supplies. I stand there awkwardly until I grab my bag and make my way to her back door._

_“ Thanks again Abby for everything.” I say my heart touched that a stranger would take such good care of me knowing the family I come from. I walk out the door when I see her nod her head in acknowledgement. I’m tentatively walking through her yard when I hear her curse under her breath._

_“ Hey do you want a job?”_

I retell that day to Alex watching her eyes grow with compassion towards Abby as I end the story. “ Wow.”

 

“ Yeah I know. After I started working for her at the Sun Sand and Surf shop she offered me the upstairs part so I could live there. She told me she just wanted extra security for the place but I knew that she knew I didn’t have anywhere to live.  I slept on a cot until I earned enough money to be able to buy a bed and some other furniture. When I graduated early from high school last year she offered me a full time job and now we’re here.”

 

Alex is quiet for a long time looking out to the ocean and I begin to get nervous that my past would scare her off. I can’t sit still any longer without knowing what she’s thinking so I start rambling. “ Look I know I’m damaged goods and my past is a lot to take in. But you’ve made me so unbelievably happy in only the week that I’ve known you for. I don’t expect you to stay around but if you do I promise I’ll do my best-“

 

I stop talking when I feel her lips on mine. She’s kissing me with such tenderness I’m not able to stop my hands from cupping her face bringing her closer to me. She breaks the kiss and starts to place kisses on my nose, cheek, forehead, and any other spot on my face. I close me eyes basking in the warm feeling that spreads through my body every time her lips connect with my skin. She pulls back and stares at me before tucking a piece of hair that had fallen into my face behind my ear.

“ You are so special Tobin. I’m so glad that guy ran me over with his skateboard that day because I would have walked right past you not knowing what I was passing up. This past week with you has made me so happy too and when we’re apart I can’t get you off of my mind. I think Jacob wants to kill me because I talk about you so often.” Alex says giggling before looking at me with affection written all over her face.

 

I beam at her as a joy swells up inside of me and I take her hand in mine.

 

“ Thank you for sharing your past with me. I can only speculate how hard that must have been for you to relive it. That meant the world to me.” She says placing a chaste kiss on my lips.

 

I just nod my head in response grinning slightly. I look around and realize that sun is almost completely gone and it’s starting to get dark. I stand and pull her up with me. As we make our way back to the bike our hands never leave each other’s and I smile knowing that she’s accepting me for who I am. Its gotten a little chilly now and I see that Alex has goose bumps on her arms. When we get back to the bike I hand her my blue hoodie that I had packed. She immediately puts it on and smiles at me thankfully. We make our way back to her house and walk up to the front door. Alex starts to take off my jacket but I stop her by placing my hand on her arm.

 

“ Keep it. It looks good on you.” I wasn’t lying. The blue hoodie made Alex’s eyes pop making them seem more alive. I just didn’t mention the fact that I liked seeing her in my clothes.

 

She pulls the jacket back on and kisses me.

 

I pull back after a few moments, eyes still closed savoring the moment. I open my eyes to find Alex smirking in front of me.

 

“ So I have the whole day off tomorrow. Would you like to come to the beach with me and the gang tomorrow? Me Kelley and Ash will be surfing but the other girls will be tanning on the beach if you don’t want to try surfing.”

 

“ That sounds awesome Toby! I think I’ll stay on the beach and tan though. If I tried surfing I’d be in the water for most of the time rather than the board.”

 

I laugh picturing Alex falling into the water before even standing on the board. “ Ok just meet us at the shop whenever you want. I’ll wait there so we can walk to the beach together.”

 

“ Alright I’ll see you in the morning!” Alex gives me one more kiss and a lingering hug before walking inside. I smile at the door like an idiot before making my way back to my bike.

 

 I pull into the shop’s parking lot still in a daze from my time with Alex that I don’t notice the other car in the parking lot. I climb the pegs that are in one of the beams up to my balcony, too lazy to make my way through the shop. I stand on the balcony for a few minutes gazing out at the ocean before turning to open the sliding glass doors to my room. I’m met with six pairs of eyes staring at me.

 

“ SHIT! What the hell are you guys doing here?!” I say as I stare at my friends that are scattered around my room while I try and calm down my racing heart.

 

“ We wanted to be here when you got back from your first date!” Sydney says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world while the rest of the group agrees. I see they have bags of popcorn and pints of ice cream and sleeping bags are littered around my small room. I plop myself facedown on my bed groaning knowing this is going to be a long night of my friends pestering me for every little detail. I complain and groan out loud to them but in reality, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

I wake up the next morning feeling something heavy on me. I look down to find Kelley practically laying on top of me her drool covering most of my shirt. I push her off of me only intending for it to make her stop drooling on me but she keeps rolling until she’s fallen out of the bed. 

“Ow!”

“ Shit who the fuck is that?!” 

I look over the side of the bed and see that Kelley fell on top of Sydney. I start laughing hysterically because Sydney is messing with her eye mask to see who was on top of her. Sydney finally gets the mask of and turns to glare at Kelley for messing with her beauty sleep. “O’Hara I’m going to kill you.” Kelley hops up and launches herself in my tiny bed to escape the wrath of Sydney in the morning. This only causes me to laugh more and the commotion wakes everyone up. 

“ Can’t a girl get some peace and quiet ever?” I hear Pinoe mumble out with her pillow over her head. No the group says in unison. Sydney, now that she’s awake, instantly goes for her phone. 

“ Oh my gosh guys it’s already 9:30!” 

At this we all hop up to get ready not wanting to waste any more sunlight. We put on our suits and some clothes over them before we make our way downstairs to the kitchen. We find Abby with a cup of coffee in her hand reading the newspaper. 

“ Wow you guys are up late. I thought you would have already been at the beach. “ Abby doesn’t even question me when the girls sleep over anymore. 

“ Yeah well we went to bed kind of late last night so we’re pretty tired. “ I say while making myself a cup of coffee. 

“ You guys had better hurry and get a spot on the beach, I heard it’s going to be a beautiful day.” When Abby said this, the girls jumped into action grabbing all of the necessities for a day at the beach. They’re about to walk out the door when they notice I’m not following them. 

“ Tobs are you coming? I never knew you to turn down the chance to spend the whole day at the beach. “ Cheney says with a confused look on her face. 

“ I invited Alex to hang with us today and told her I would wait at the shop for her so we could walk together.” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. 

“Ohhhhh waiting on your hottie. I see!” Pinoe winks at me before walking out the door cackling at herself. 

“ Ok Tobs that sounds good we’ll see you in a bit!” Ali says taking Ashyln’s hand and following the rest of the group out. I lounge around the shop until Alex shows up right after 10. 

“ Hey you!” Alex says when she walks through the shop’s door. 

“ Hey yourself.” I reply back before snatching her into a hug. She kisses me briefly and pulls back smiling.

“ You ready to head down to the beach? The girls are already there.”

“Yep just came to pick up my hot date.” She said winking at me. 

I shake my head and roll my eyes. I grab her hand and my backpack that holds all the items we might need through out the day and call out to Abby that I’m leaving. We get to the beach about ten minutes later and find the girls already spread out on their towels soaking up the sun. They all call out hellos when they hear us approaching. 

Alex takes off her tank top and blue jean shorts once we get our towels and other stuff laid out. My jaw drops slightly and I’m pretty sure I’m drooling. I can’t help but stare at how stunning Alex is. Yeah sure I could tell she had a great body from the times that I held her but I wasn’t prepared for this. Her tan stomach was toned to where I could see her abs and her legs seemed to stretch for miles. And don’t even get me started on how her butt looked in that suit. She caught me staring and gives me a smirk before cheekily walking to the water. I thought I might pass out from the view she gave me. 

“ Dude your drooling.” Ash says without even looking up from her spot next to Ali. 

I ignore the snickers from my friends and run after Alex. She still doesn’t hear me so I sneak up behind her and pick her up. She starts screaming at me to put her down but I just run the few steps to the waters edge before dropping her in. A wave comes at that exact moment knocking her down and she comes up spluttering. I laugh at how silly she looks with her hair all in her face. 

“ That wasn’t funny Tobin.” She pouts standing before another wave could hit her. 

“ That’s what you get for teasing me back there.” 

“ Teasing? I was just walking to cool off in the water.” Alex says wrapping her arms around my neck dragging me closer. 

“ I think you knew what you were doing.” I say placing my hands on her hips. 

“Hmm. Maybe I did.” She huskily whispers and I get goose bumps even though it’s hot outside. I see her eyes glance down to my lips so I lean in to connect mine with hers. She sighs into the kiss before deepening it. I tighten my grip on her hips and bring her closer so that now our bodies are flush with one another. The kiss gets heated and I forget for a moment that we’re on a public beach. 

“ OW OW!”

“ Get a room you two!” 

“Get it Tobs!” 

I break the kiss and plop my head onto her shoulder groaning. I’m blushing like crazy but Alex just laughs at my friend’s outburst. 

“ I’m going to kill them.” I mumble into Alex’s neck. She just laughs again before taking my hand and leading us back to our area. My friends are all giving me wicked grins knowing they had achieved their goal in embarrassing me. I glare at them swiftly stripping off my outer clothes and drop to the ground on my towel putting one arm over my eyes. 

“ So Alex there’s this big party tonight down on the beach by the pier you want to come with us?” I hear Cheney ask. 

“ Yeah that sounds like fun! Are you going Toby?” Alex asks turning towards me. 

“ Uh I don’t know Lex. A lot of those people don’t really like me.” I state scooping some sand into my hand. 

“ Oh come on Tobin! Please?” I look over and Alex is giving me puppy dog eyes while pouting her lips. 

“Ugh fine!” I say. I couldn’t refuse her when she gave me that face. Plus the person that really hated me was out of town for the summer. 

“ Thanks Toby!” Alex said smiling and places a kiss on the side of my head. Pinoe makes a whipping sound and motion who then gets a high five from Kelley. 

“ You guys are jerks.” I say rolling over causing them to laugh at my embarrassment. We spend the rest of the day lounging around or catching a few waves. Towards the end of the day I fall asleep. I wake up to soft kisses being pressed onto my face. Without opening my eyes I return the kiss before propping myself up on my elbows. I can tell from how much the sun has dropped that I had been asleep for a while. 

“How long was I out for?” I ask while rubbing the sleep out of my eye. 

“ Probably 2 hours. You didn’t miss much though except Kelley getting pinched by a crab she caught. “ Alex informs me before sliding up next to me. We sit there in comfortable silence for a while until we realize we should head back so we can get ready for the party. 

“ I’m so ready for this party! There hasn’t been a good one all summer!” Syd says excitedly while we’re walking back. 

“ Right?! That one the other weekend was so lame I thought I was going to fall asleep!” Pinoe declares dramatically.  
“ Hey Alex do you want me to pick you up?” I ask once we reach the parking lot and all the girls are climbing into their cars. 

“ Yeah that would be awesome Tobin! I’ll see you in like an hour!” Alex says and climbs into her jeep. I watch as she drives away before hopping into action. I take a quick shower and dry my hair before turning to my closet to figure out what to where. I decide on some blue jean shorts and a black V-neck. Knowing it might be get a little cold I put on my sea foam zip up hoodie. To finish it all off I throw on a black snapback before walking out the door. I make it to Alex’s house pretty quick and Jacob opens the door from me.

“ Nice to see you again Tobin. I hear you and Miss Morgan are going to a party tonight?” He asks while leading me to a couch to sit on. 

“ Yes we are. It’s supposed to be pretty fun.” I say while taking a seat. 

Jacob glances up at the stairs over his shoulder before looking back at me seriously. “ Tobin I know there’s going to be alcohol at the party but can you please promise me that you will be responsible for yourself and Alex?”

“ Oh Jacob you don’t have anything to worry about that. I don’t drink. I’m usually the mom of the group looking out for everyone. I promise nothing will happen to Alex if I can help it.” I pronounce returning his serious look. 

He nods his head with satisfaction giving me a once over before smiling down at me. “ I like you Tobin your good for Alex.”

“ You have no idea how good she is for me.” I chuckle out. 

We both turn when we hear someone coming down the stairs. I smile when I see its Alex. She’s wearing high waisted shorts with a grey crop top that showed off her lean stomach. She’s got a red hoodie on her arm which I guess is for the ride to the party. When she reaches me she gives me a lingering hug.

“ You girls have fun tonight.” Jacob said with a wink opening the door for us. 

“ We will thanks Jacob!” Alex calls out. 

As we walk towards my bike I put an arm around her shoulders pulling her into me. “You look beautiful.” I whisper into her ear. This causes her to redden and look down at her feet. I hadn’t really seen Alex blush even when all of my friends teased her about our relationship. I grin at the fact that I could make her do it. 

“ You don’t look so bad yourself.” She replies back while looking at me out of the corner of her eye smirking. I kiss the side of her head before pulling her onto the bike behind me.  
We arrive at the party and its already hopping. There must have been 500 people our age milling around and it was only 9 o’clock. Cheney told me that it was one of the rich kid’s birthday and that everyone was invited and everything was free. There was a dance area with a DJ where a ton of people were dancing it up. I look over to Alex and she has an excited look in her eyes as she takes it all in. I spot Kelley and the rest of the gang standing in an area. I wave in relief that I know more than one person here. 

“ Hey Guys!” Cheney shouts out as we make our way towards them. 

“ Wow Tobs you did come out. Alex really has you wrapped around her little finger.” Pinoe jokingly says.

“ Guys can you not tease me for one night.” I sigh exasperatedly.

“ Sure Tobs lets just enjoy the party and the free booze!” Kelley shouts while hoisting her drink in the air.

“ Amen to that.” Syd says clinking her cup with Kelley’s.

“ Do you want anything to drink?” I ask once we’ve settled down.

“ Hmm. I’ll have Fireball and Dr. Pepper if they have it” she answers back.

“ I’ll be right back.” I squeeze through people trying to make my way to one of the open bars. I only get a few dirty looks from people who recognize me, but the majority of people don’t know who I am so I travel through the crowd without much problem. It would be a hell of a lot worse if a certain person was in town for the summer, but thankfully he had gone backpacking across Europe. I get to the bar and order Alex’s drink and getting a water for myself. I fumble back to the area where my friends are at trying not to spill Alex’s beverage. I finally make it back and hand Alex her drink.

“Thanks Toby! Are you not drinking?” She asks when she sees the water bottle in my hand.

“ I don’t drink.” I state simply while surveying the crowd around me before looking at Alex. I watch her face as she connects the dots and then nods her head in understanding. I laugh as I see an already tipsy Kelley, Syd, and Pinoe dancing in the crowd. A song comes on and the next thing I know Alex is dragging me onto the dance floor. 

“ Oh my god Toby I love this song!” She shouts. 

She tugs me threw a crowd of people to the middle of the dance floor. The music is thumping and I can’t turn around without running into someone. Alex turns placing her back to my front and begins to dance provocatively to the beat. My hands find Alex’s hips of their own accord and I match her movements. I can’t describe in words how good it feels as she moves against me like this. I bend my head forward placing kisses on her neck. I’m too caught up in the moment to care who sees me. I nip at her pulse point and I hear her gasp. She abruptly whirls around so that our faces are inches apart. We stay like that swaying to the beat until she crashes her lips with mine. I can feel the heat behind the kiss and my hands travel up her body until they’re cupping her face. Her hands get tangled in my hair pulling me closer so that the space between us is nonexistent. My tongue tentatively runs across her bottom lip asking for entry. She lets me in without hesitation and I sigh into the kiss. She’s kissing me fervently and I kiss her back passionately. She breaks the kisses but moves her mouth to my ear and nibbles on it. 

“ Do you want to get out of here?” She breathes alluringly into my ear. I nod my head because I’m pretty sure the only sound that would come out of my mouth right now is gibberish. She takes the lead again and pulls me through the crowd. We make a quick stop so I can make sure Cheney is ok to take care of the rest of the group. She confirms she is and gives me a smirk and wink before disappearing into the crowd. 

We’re walking hand in hand up the beach towards the parking lot when I hear a voice that makes me freeze in my tracks. 

“ Well well well look at we have here.” 

I slowly turn around my heart pounding in my chest as I watch the man I hadn’t seen in over a year walk unsteadily towards us.


	8. Chapter 8

I instantly stand in front of Alex blocking her from the view of my father and his two minions as they walk in our direction. 

“ Alex go back to the party.” I say intently hoping it wasn’t too late for her to be able to escape. 

“ Tobin I’m not-“

“ Alex go back and stay with Cheney now!” I hiss at her urgently while turning to look at her seriously. 

She hesitates for a second, but seeing the look on my face she does what I say and runs back to the party. I take a deep breath and close my eyes briefly before I rotate back around to face the three men in front of me. 

“ Woh where’s your pretty friend headed off to girl?” my dad asks when he sees Alex running away. 

“ You don’t need to worry about her. What do you want?” I say without emotion. I’ve already put my armor back on so he wouldn’t see how affected I was by his presence. 

“ Haven’t seen ya since your skinny little ass ran off a year ago. Me and my boys here were just headed down to that party to sell some of my product.” He says slightly reeling in front of me. I take a glance at the two guys that are with him and recognize that they’re my cousins. 

“ Alright well I have to get home and I don’t really want to talk to you so goodbye.” I say as I try and step around them. 

“Hold on a minute girl. What do you mean home? The only home you ever had was the one you ran away from. “ He says pushing me back in front of him.

“ That wasn’t a home.” I wince inwardly at my comment knowing it would infuriate me. 

“ Why you ungrateful little bitch! I gave you a roof over your head and food! You should be thanking me for taking care of your ass all those years!” He says while pointing his beer bottle at me. I can’t help myself as the anger rises up in me and I stupidly respond back.

“ Thankful?! Why the hell would I be grateful for anything you did? All you did was-“ I didn’t even see his fist as it struck the side of my mouth. Being away from him for a year had made me forgotten how fast and hard he could strike even when he was drunk. I stumble to the ground spitting the blood out of my mouth from my split lip. Before I can even get up he kicks me in the ribs in a full on rage now.   
“ You little fucking piece of shit I cant believe I ever called you family! You don’t have a home I bet you live on the streets! No one wants you! “He shouts out to me as he starts battering me with hits. My cousins just stood there not interfering even when he grew more violent. It was like he had been storing up all his anger for the past year and he takes it all out on me. He stops out of breath from his exertion putting his hands on his knees. I’m curled into a ball my faced pressed into the sand just waiting for his attacks to stop. “ You honestly think that girl that was with you wants to be with you? You are nothing Tobin. You might as well accept that now. You’re a Heath and always will be, remember that. 

“Tobin!”

I turn my head slowly still in a daze from the beating I had just gotten. I make out figures running in the direction of us. I hear one of my cousins mutter to my dad before hurriedly pulling him away. I hear tires screech from a car pulling out as someone drops in front of me. I’m still in a ball unable to move from the pain I’m in. 

“Christ Tobin what was he doing here?” I hear someone ask and I recognize the voice as Cheney. I just shake my head incapable of words at the moment. 

“ We should call the cops on that fucking dick.” I hear Ashlyn growl out. 

I finally sit up wincing and ignore the gasp from the group. “ No. It’ll do no good. There was no proof that he was even here.” I rasp out. I look up eventually and realize that Ashlyn, Cheney, and Alex are in a circle around me. My eyes meet with Alex’s and I see she has tears in her eyes and a terrified look on her face. I feel shame and humiliation run through my body that Alex is seeing me like this. Ashlyn and Cheney had seen me like this but Alex hadn’t and I had meant to keep it that way. I gingerly get to my feet and wave off Cheney as she tries to help me up. I wordlessly turn around and begin to warily walk back to the shop. I hear them muttering before feeling someone run up behind me. I glance over to see Alex walking along side me. 

“Alex you don’t have to follow me I’m fine.” I mumble just wanting space so she wouldn’t have to see me in this condition. 

“Tobin don’t you dare say your fine! You just got the shit beat out of you why on earth would I let you be alone?” Alex chokes out.

“ I’ll be ok you don’t-“

“Tobin I’m coming with you.” Alex exclaims stubbornly. I just sigh knowing she won’t back down. She gently grabs my hand and we walk back in silence. She heads for the door but I shake my head and direct her to the beam to climb up to my balcony. I let her go first and I follow having to pause several times from the pain in my ribs. I slide the door open and collapse on my bed, absolutely spent from the past hour. Alex takes my hand again cautiously pulling me to my feet before leading me to my bathroom. She makes me sit on the edge of the tub and begins to rummage around the small room. She runs the sink filling it with warm water, and grabs a rag. She dips it in the water before raising it to my face to wipe off the blood. My lip has finally stopped bleeding but the cut above my eyebrow is still slightly leaking. She tentatively sponges it away and her face is full of compassion. By the time she’s cleaned it all away the sink of water is red with my blood. 

“ Tobin where’s the first aid kit at?” 

“ Downstairs above the kitchen sink.” I say looking down at my feet. 

She kisses me on my head before making her way downstairs to fetch the kit. I let out a huff staring at my hands. How is Alex being so calm about this? Surely she’s going to bolt at any minute I thought to myself. Alex returns with the kit and pulls out the things she needed. 

“Tobin?” I’m still looking at my lap refusing to look at her 

“Tobin look at me.” I sigh before raising my head meeting Alex’s eyes. 

“ Why are you shutting me out?” 

“ I just… I… I don’t want you to pity me or feel like you have to be here.” I shakily say looking anywhere but her face. 

“Tobin I’m here because I want to be here. Let me take care of you.” She pleads while taking my hands in hers. I bend my head down so she can’t see the tears that have escaped against my will. I feel her slowly wipe them away before cupping my face and lifting it. I see her eyes are watery and she’s looking at me with such care I feel like my chest is going to crack with emotion. 

“ Don’t listen to anything your dad said. I’ve only known you for a short amount of time but I know everything that he said is untrue. You are such a genuine, kind, and caring person that people truly love.” 

“ You deserve to be with someone so much better then me.” I say weakly. 

“I want to be with someone who makes me happy Tobin. You make me incredibly happy and you make me feel like I’m special.”

“ That’s because you are special Lex. I’ve never felt this way with anyone else before. You waltzed in leaving me breathless and the only thing I can do is hang on for dear life.” Alex kisses me lightly on my lips, trying not to cause me any more pain. 

“Please stay with me tonight.” I whisper out. 

“ I wouldn’t want to be any where else.” Alex states pecking me on the lips again.   
“Now shush and let me finish taking care of you.” She says cleaning my cuts out and putting a band-aid on the one above my eyebrow. Once she’s finished tending to me I lead her out to the bedroom. I give her a large t-shirt and a pair of my boxers to sleep in. She goes into the bathroom to change and I replace my clothes with something similar to what I had given Alex. She comes out of the bathroom and I chuckle seeing her in my clothes. We climb into bed and Alex lays her head on my shoulder while I wrap my arms around her. I hear her sigh contently before hugging me a little closer. 

“ Goodnight Toby.”

“Night Lex.” We lay there for a few minutes and I can feel myself falling asleep from the warmth of having Alex in my arms. 

“Tobin?”

“Hmm?” I mumble coming out of sleeping stupor. 

“ I really care about you.” She says rubbing small circles on my stomach over the t-shirt. 

“ I really care about you too.” I say kissing the top of her head. I fall asleep easier then I have in a long time. 

 

I wake up a few hours later confused and my face throbbing. I glance at my watch and it reads 2:33. I look over to see Alex fast asleep curled into my side. I smile down at her only to grimace in pain from my lip. I lay my head back on my pillow thinking of how Alex didn’t run away, but stayed and took care of me. I’m so overcome with emotion for the girl next to me that I know I’m falling for her hard. I sigh before slowly crawling out of bed careful not to wake up Alex. I quietly make my way to the studio across the room and close the door. I light a couple of candles before sitting on the stool. I look at the types of wood I have and settle on a deep red walnut grain for Alex’s box. I’m smoothing out the slats of wood when I hear the door creak open behind me. I spin around to find Alex standing there with my sheets wrapped around her rubbing the sleep out of her eye.

“I woke up and you weren’t next to me. What are you doing?” She ask her voice raspy from sleep. 

“Nothing just fiddling around.” I say blocking the wood from her view.

“Come back to bed its really early.” 

“Ok babe let me just clean up.”

“Babe?” 

“ Oh sorry um it just slipped out.” I say backpedalling and blushing furiously. 

“ No its fine. I like it.” She said winking and smirking at me. 

I put away my tools and stand to join Alex in the doorway. She reaches her hand out and I take it. She guides me back to bed and pulls me down to lay with her. She intertwines our hands and I run my free hand delicately along her back. We doze off enfolded in each other’s arms.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry for taking so long to update! I've been totally swamped with exams this week. Hope you enjoy!

I wake up before Alex and take this time to study her. In the morning light she looks absolutely perfect to me. She was lying on her side and had kicked the sheets down to her ankles. I trace my fingers along her hip where the shirt had ridden up reveling in the smoothness of her skin. I glance up to Alex’s face wanting to memorize this moment to find Alex staring at me intently. 

" I really want to kiss you right now." She rasps out and her voice sounds so sexy right now I just want to melt into the bed. 

"What's stopping you?" I ask looking down at her lips. 

"Have you seen yourself?" She chuckles in dismay. 

" I can take a guess at what I look like." I say rubbing my tongue over the cut on my lip. 

" I'm pretty sure if I kiss you the way I want to I'll cause you pain and I really don't want to do that." Alex says moving her hands to hold my face tentatively. 

I sigh placing my hands on top of hers before closing my eyes leaning my forehead against hers. I stay like that before pulling back and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. 

"Come on let's go make you some breakfast. I say. I got to roll out of bed and have to stifle a groan from the pain in my abdomen. We make our way downstairs to the kitchen and I begin rummaging through the fridge. 

"What do you want??" 

"Hmm surprise me." She said leaning against the counter. I think quickly of what to cook before deciding on breakfast burritos. I pull out all the necessary ingredients before getting to work. I scoot Alex over by tapping her kiddingly with my hip. She scoffs in mock hurt before sitting down on the couch to watch me cook. I love to cook, there's something so peaceful about it. I'm scrambling the eggs when I hear someone stomping down the stairs from my bedroom. Confused I turn and find Alex looking at me with an equally befuddled look on her face. I only have to wait another couple of seconds before I see Kelley emerge into the kitchen red faced and out of breath. 

"Tobin. Cheney. Just. Told. Me. What. Happened. " Kelley says in between trying to catch her breath. 

"Why the hell are you out of breath?" I ask still slightly confused.

" She was leaving for work when I woke up and she told me so I ran as fast as I could, basically flew up to your balcony, and now I'm here." She says finally able to catch her breath and wiping the sweat off her face. " Are you ok? How bad was it? Why was he there he hasn't been around in over a year." 

" I'm fine and it's not the worst I've ever had. Alex took pretty good care of me."

"Alex??"

"Hey Kelley" Alex waves from her spot on the couch where she had been watching the interaction. 

"Shit Alex I didn't even see you when I ran in here!" Kelley exclaims finally spotting Alex. 

"Sorry Kelley. " she said with a small chuckle. 

Kelley walks toward me as the eggs finish and I'm scooping them onto the burritos. She cautiously grabs me by the chin so she can examine my face. I'm pretty sure the right side of my face is still swollen and might have a bruise. "How's the rest of your body?" 

I lift my shirt to check on my stomach. There are bruises scattered across it but nothing too bad. She just nods her head before lowering my shirt. She bends her head scuffing her feet on the floor. I notice one of her shoes isn’t even tied because she probably left Cheney's house in such a hurry. " I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you. I should have been there instead of drinking." I hear her whisper out. 

I place both hands on her shoulders waiting for her to look at me. She finally does and she has a guilty and sad expression on her face. “Kelley no one expected that to happen last night. It was a freak incident that he was on this side of town at the exact same time as me. Seriously Kell there was nothing you could have done about it.” I say earnestly. 

Kelley sighs before pulling me into a hug holding me close. "I'm sure Alex took special care of you." She whispers in my ear before walking away with a wicked smirk. I return back to the burritos blushing as she plops down on the couch next to Alex. 

"So did you have a fun time last night?" Alex asks redirecting the conversation which I throw her a thankful glance for. 

"No! This guy kept trying to get with me and couldn't get the concept that I'm gay into his head!" Kelley exclaims and then she's off telling us about her evening. Happy that the normal hyper Kelley is back I bring Alex's and my burritos and sit down next to Alex. I hand Alex her plate and she thanks me by planting a kiss on my cheek. I wink at her before digging into my food. 

"Tobin can you do everything?" I hear Alex ask through a mouthful of food. 

"What?" I say chuckling. 

"You can do everything! You can cook, surf, carve and who knows what else!" Alex says looking at me in disbelief. 

I feel myself reddening at her compliment. "Oh um I-" 

"She also a really good singer!" Kelley says adding to my embarrassment. 

"Really?!" 

"No! Kelley I'm going to kill you." 

"I'm sorry Tobs I couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease you more." She says while taking the last bit of my burrito and stuffing it into her mouth smiling. 

"You are a hopeless case. Why am I friends with you again?" I ask leaning back and putting an arm around Alex's shoulder. 

"Because you loveeee me!" Kelley shouts out. 

"Unfortunately." I say causing Alex to laugh. I look at her with an amused look on my face and find her smiling at me. 

"Hey." I whisper smirking.

"Hey." She answers back. We just sit there smiling goofily at each other for a few minutes. 

"You guys make me sick." Kelley gags standing and moving away from us. 

“Then why don’t you leave?” I ask without breaking eye contact with Alex. 

“Wow! I run like 5 miles, got chased by a Chihuahua, almost broke my ankle hopping over a fence to check on you and this is the thanks I get? Love you too Tobs!” Kelley says sarcastically marching away.

I sigh running a hand across my face before sitting up to chase after her. “Kelley wait up!”

“Chillax Tobin I’m not leaving. I’m just stealing one of your shirts because mine is completely soaked thanks to you.” She said pulling her drenched t-shirt over her head while walking up the stairs. 

“Hey Kell.”

“Yeah?” She asked sticking her head through the rails.

“Thanks for running 5 five miles to check up on me.” I say looking up at her.

“Anytime bud.” She said ruffling my hair and continuing to trudge up the stairs. 

I make my way back into the kitchen to find Alex washing the dishes. She looked adorable standing there in my shirt and boxers. I walk up behind Alex slipping my arms around her and pulling her into me. She jumps at the initial contact before softening into the hug. I start placing open-mouthed kisses tenderly down the side of her neck where the large t-shirt had slipped. I hear her sigh before leaning into me more and I slide my hands to her hips and squeeze them. One of my hands slips under her shirt so that I could feel the skin along her hip.

“Seriously Tobin? Can you not control yourself I was gone for like 2 minutes!” Kelley shouts in disbelief.

Alex laughs at Kelley’s remark as I quickly let go of her. She turns around placing a kiss on my nose before treading over to Kelley leaving me in my spot flustered. I start drying the dishes listening to Kelley and Alex make plans for the day. I spin around when I hear Kelley let out an excited squeal.

“Alex just said that we should go shopping today!” Kelley said elatedly.

“I’d love to guys but I’ve got to get some carving done today. I’ve been slacking lately and I need to finish some stuff.” I say apologetically.

“Aw really?” Alex asks disappointed. 

“Yeah sorry I wish I could, but you and Kelley go have fun!”

“Ok Tobs. Well come on Alex we’re wasting the day away!” Kelley said hopping up from the couch. Alex skips over to me giving me a light kiss and turns around to face Kelley.

“We need to stop by my house first so I can change unless you want me to go in this.” Alex giggled motioning to the sleep attire she was currently in. 

“Alex if you go out in public like that we cant be friends anymore.” Kelley deadpans.

“Hey Alex you should go just like that so you can finally get rid of this thing.” I say pointing my finger at Kelley who gave a dramatic gasp of outrage.

“Alex let’s go before this person poisons your mind with ridiculous thoughts.” Kelley says hooking her arm through Alex’s and starts to drag her away. I chuckle and am able to get a final peck before Alex is pulled away from me. 

“Bye Toby we’ll see you later!” Alex calls out as Kelley frog marches them out the door. 

The next couple of weeks go by in pretty much the same way. Kelley and Alex are always at the shop keeping me company. They joke around and Abby pretends to get mad at them and threatens to throw them out of the shop. In the late afternoon I carve for a couple of hours and Alex will sit next to me reading a book or watching me work. We sit there in comfortable silence every once in awhile telling a story about our past. After I’ve finished carving Alex usually will stay the night with me. We lie in my small bed and fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. 

I can feel myself falling for her harder with every minute that we’re together. Tonight was the night I was going to do it. I was going to ask Alex to be my girlfriend. All of her drawn-out kisses and touches had finally given me the courage to think she wanted this just as much as I did. We were basically together just without the label. Plus all of the girls wouldn’t stop giving me shit about how I just needed woman up and ask her. I was a bundle of nerves thinking of ways I would ask her. 

“Alex don’t your parents ever wander where you are?” I ask one night as we are getting ready for bed. This was the fifth night in a row that she was sleeping over. Not that I was complaining, but I was curious to know if her parents knew where she was for the majority of the time.

“No they aren’t ever home so they wouldn’t know if I was there or not.” Alex says with a shrug of her shoulders. 

“Where are your parents at?” I ask while pulling back the sheets.

“ My dad’s always away on business and my mother either accompanies him or is too busy to be bothered by me, but its ok I have Jacob.” Alex responds while fiddling with a pillow. I can tell she’s slightly upset about her parent’s not ever being around. 

I sit down on the edge of the bed and pull her into my lap. She wraps her arms around my neck and I look up at the girl I’m head over heels for. “ Well it’s their loss because you’re amazing Alex. You are so beautiful inside and out that my heart can barely stand it. As cheesy and corny as that sounds I’m serious. You legitimately take my breath away every time I see you. I know we’ve only known each other for a month but you make me the happiest person in the world when I’m with you. And when I’m not with you all I can think about is you and when I can see you again. You are my everything.” I confess not being able to hold back my feelings and affections for her anymore. My heart is pounding as I wait for her response to my statement. She crashes her lips to mine before I can really process the situation. I feel like a weight had been lifted off my chest and I kiss her back putting all of the love I had for her into it. I feel her tongue against my lips enticing me to allow her entrance but I pull away abruptly not wanting to get lost in the kiss before asking her something. She looked at me baffled probably wondering why I had pulled away so suddenly. 

“Alex?”

“Yes?” She asks while scrunching her eyebrows together in confusion. 

“Will you be my girlfriend?” I ask trying to hide the nervousness in my voice.

“Only if you’ll be mine.” She says beaming at me and gives me a gentle kiss.

I let out a huge sigh of relief. “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to ask you that.” 

“Probably as long as I’ve wanted you to ask.” Alex says with a giggle. 

I just stare at her not able to control the mega watt smile that’s on my face. I move Alex off my lap and jump up and start to put my shoes on internally thanking myself for not getting into my sleeping clothes yet. 

“Um where are you going Toby?” Alex asked smirking at me while I’m hopping around on one foot trying to get my shoe on. 

“ WE are going to go celebrate!” I shout with excitement. 

“Oh and where are we going??” Alex asked amused. 

“We are going to Purple Haze because this calls for some dessert.”

“Really?!”

“Yes so put on your shoes so we can go!”

Once Alex has her shoes on we climb down the balcony to my bike. The ride is only a couple of minutes so we arrive there shortly. We walk in hand in hand and make our way towards the bar. Hope comes out of the kitchen and smiles when she sees us.

“My my my look who finally decided to visit. I thought you were dead.” She said grinning at me. “Hey Alex!”

“Hey Hope how have you been?” Alex asks while taking a seat on one of the bar stools. 

“Oh you know the usual nothing that exciting what about you?” 

“Well Tobin just asked me to be her girlfriend.” Alex says grinning at me and I return hers with one of my own.

“Wow it took long enough Tobs!” Hope says giving me a playful push. “I’m just kidding I’m really happy for the both of you. I’m sure Kelley is going bonkers. She came in the other night and was complaining of how you guys make her sick because you’re so sweet.” She chuckled at the memory of Kelley complaining that night. 

“She doesn’t know yet.” I say rubbing the back of my neck. Hope just stares at me before an evil grin spreads across her face. 

“ I know before O’Hara? Oh my god I’m so going to rub this in her face next time she’s here!” Hope laughed out loud causing a few of her customers to look at us. 

“Hope I thought you were supposed to be mature?” 

“I can’t help it. She brings out the immaturity in me.” She says with a shrug of her shoulders. “So what can I get the happy couple?”

“What do you want babe?” I ask Alex

“Hmm I don’t know you always pick something I end up loving so you choose!” 

“We’ll have the peach cobbler with some ice cream.” I say and Hope nods her head before going to the back to get it. She returns quickly and sets the plates in front of us. 

“It’s on the house guys since Tobs finally made a move.” Hope said winking at me and walks back into the kitchen. I feel the blush running up my neck so I hurriedly take a bite of the cobbler in front of me. It always surprises me at how delicious her desserts are no matter how many times I have it. I watch Alex take a bite out of hers and sigh in satisfaction. We finish in what must be record and I’m licking my spoon when I feel Alex staring at me. I look over and find her gazing at me with the most adorable expression on her face. 

“What?” I say with the spoon still in my mouth. 

“Your such a dork.” She snickers. 

“Yeah but I’m your dork.” I say grinning at her. 

“You most certainly are.” She states and leans in giving me a lingering kiss. 

“Let’s get out of here.” I whisper to her.   
She just smiles at me before standing up and we thank Hope for the dessert. We make it back to the shop in one piece and climb up the balcony to my room. Alex has gotten so comfortable from spending countless hours here with me that she walks around the room like it’s her own. She goes to my drawers and pulls out two pairs of boxers and two t-shirts. She tosses them to me before going into the bathroom to change. I quickly change into the clothes and climb into bed. Alex strolls out of the bathroom and dives onto the bed. She scoots until she’s practically on top of me and cuddles into my side. I put one arm around her holding her close to me while my other hand reaches out to Alex’s and intertwines them. I bring our interlaced hands up to my mouth and kiss the back of her hand gently before laying it on top of my stomach. She presses a kiss into my neck and soon we’re both fast asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys thanks for all the comments I really appreciate them. I'm Switching it up a little bit! The next few chapters are going to be from Alex's POV. Hope you enjoy!

Alex’s POV

 

It’s Friday and I’m driving along the coast when I park my car by the boardwalk and start walking towards the food stands. Tobin was probably so absorbed in her carving that she didn’t eat lunch. I loved watching her work. She got so focused on the tiniest detail and she always bit her lip in concentration when she got to a difficult part. It was breathtaking watching what she could make with her hands. Sometimes in the middle of the night I wake up and she’s not by my side. I find her sitting on that stool hovered over her work every time. I chuckle knowing she’s most likely working on something for me because when she hears me she always hides whatever she’s making behind her back and orders me to leave the room. She always came back slightly flustered from being caught before taking me in her arms and kissing me softly. I sigh at the thought of how perfect it felt being held by her. There are so many things about Tobin that I love. When she just wakes up and her baby hairs are all across her forehead. How compassionate she is when it comes to the people she loves. Her toned tan skin that I can’t seem to get enough of. My favorite thing about Tobin though is her smile. There are seven billion smiles on this planet and hers is my favorite. Every time I see or even think about that goofy grin of hers, I get happy. 

Its there when I’m standing in front of the fish taco truck that I realize I love Tobin. It makes me stop in my tracks and I smile over the revelation that I just had. I love Tobin Heath. Pure joy wells up inside of me and I can hardly stand still. I skip over to the stand and order Tobin and myself fish tacos to go. I can’t wait to get back to the shop so I can talk to Tobin. I pay for the food and turn but abruptly run into someone’s chest. 

“I’m so sorry that was my bad!” I say while checking the tacos to make sure they were still ok. 

“No you’re fine I wasn’t paying attention.” I hear the guy say and I look up at the person I had run into. I had to admit he was a pretty good-looking guy. 

“Are you new here?” He asks while tilting his head to the side inspecting me. 

“Yeah I just moved here this summer.”

“Well that explains it!”

“Explains what?” I ask 

“Clearly I would have remembered someone as gorgeous as you.” He said winking at me. He stuck out his hand introducing himself “Servando Carrasco.”

“Alex Morgan.” I say shaking his hand and letting go quickly so I didn’t give him any ideas. 

“So Alex I’m having a kind of big party tonight. I’ve been gone all summer so I’m throwing this to get reacquainted with everyone before school starts up in a couple of weeks. Would you care to come?” 

“Sure that sounds fun! Do you mind if I bring some friends?” I ask thinking how it would be nice to hang out with the girls. Also to maybe get a few dances in with Tobin. 

“The more the merrier!” He says grinning at me. He reaches behind me grabbing a pen off the counter and starts writing on my to go bag. “ This is my address it should be pretty easy to find and the party starts at 9.”

“Alright well it was nice meeting you Servando!” I say walking off back to my car.

“See ya tonight Alex!” He calls out. 

I drive the short distance to the shop and walk through the door to find Abby manning the desk. 

“Hey Alex how are you?” She asks folding up her newspaper. 

“I am doing fantastic Abby!” I express hopping towards the counter. 

“Wow you really are in a great mood.” She said chuckling at me. 

“I most certainly am!”

“I’m guessing it has something to do with the girl carving upstairs?” 

“It does!” I’m about to run up the stairs when I feel Abby grab my empty hand. She looks up at the trap door before turning her full attention to me. 

“ I know you and Tobin have been spending a lot of time together. I’d like to know what your intentions are with Tobin. Is this just a summer fling for you? Because for her it’s not she has serious feelings for you. She’s been through hell and back Alex I just want what’s best for her. She doesn’t need any more heartbreak.” Abby says seriously staring at me intensely. 

In that moment I realize how much Tobin actually means to Abby. She sees her like a daughter and only wants to protect her. I glance up towards the ceiling making sure that Tobin wasn’t going to come down the stairs. “ Abby I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Tobin. She’s told me about her past and I’m not going anywhere, I’m here for the long haul. I love her.” I confess letting out a big breath and break out into a grin. 

I watch as Abby continues to distinguish whether I’m telling the truth or not. After about a minute of staring she finally cracks a smile at me. 

“Well don’t just stand here and tell me. Go tell her!” Abby says smiling and patting me on the shoulder. “Oh and um if you can keep this between us that’d be great. I think Tobin might kill me if she knew I had interrogated you.” She says chuckling.

“Of course Abby! It’ll be our little secret.” I say before hugging her. She hugs me back giving me a squeeze before letting go. 

“Thank you Alex.” She says before walking to the back of the shop. I know Abby was thanking me for more than just keeping our little secret. I fly up the stairs taking two at a time and slowly open the trap door. I go straight to her studio not even bothering to look around the room. When I get there however she’s not in there. Confused I turn back into her room and that’s when I see her. She’s passed out on her bed totally oblivious to me being here. I chuckle at how adorable she looks curled into a ball with her head squished into the pillow. I sit on the edge of the bed and brush away all the stray pieces of hair that were in her face. I don’t have to wait long for Tobin to wake up from my gentle ministrations. She opens her eyes and a grin slowly spreads across her face. She closes them again but pulls me down to lay with her encircling her arms around me. 

“Good afternoon.” She whispers while running her nose along my jawline and pressing kisses into my neck periodically. I sigh at the feeling of her mouth on my neck and I break out in goose bumps. I can feel her smiling against my neck and I giggle at her. She pulls back and she’s got that goofy grin on her face that I love so much. 

“Hey.” I say giving her a quick kiss. “I brought you something.”

“Hmm? Did you now?” She said trying to kiss the other side of my neck now.

“Yep fish tacos.” I say and watch as Tobin pops her head up with a huge smile on her face.

“Really babe?!” She says in excitement. I nod my head laughing and she jumps out of bed and runs towards the bag on the floor. She pulls them out but places them back in the bag and abruptly turns to go downstairs. It’s a mystery to me what she’s doing so I just lay on her bed. I don’t have to wait long for her to come back. I see she has plates and is balancing two glasses of water. She drops the plates on the bed before opening the door to the balcony and setting them on the small table outside. She grabs the plates and goes back to the bag with the tacos while I watch in amusement.

“What are you doing Tobin?” 

“It’s a beautiful day so I thought we should eat together out on the balcony because you love doing that.” She said grabbing the tacos out of the bag. I get up from my spot on the bed and walk towards her. Her simple comment made my heart skip a beat and I realized I wanted to tell Tobin right then how much I love her. I place a hand on her lower back and she straightens up with that adorable grin on her face. 

“I love you Tobin.” I say and watch as her jaw goes slack and she stares at me. “I love you so much every little thing that you do makes me realize it. I don’t know how long I’ve loved you, maybe it was the first day that we met. All I know is that I am one hundred percent head over heels in love with you. I don’t know what my future holds, but I hope that you’re in it.” I finish and gaze at Tobin. She lets out a big breath her eyes on her feet before looking up at me with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. 

“I have thought of all the different possible ways to tell you that I am madly in love with you. You are everything I never knew I always wanted. You've changed my life so much that I can hardly remember what I was doing two months ago before I met you. Everyone has gone through something that has changed them in a way where they could never go back to the person they once were, and for me thats you. You have captivated me in every imaginable and conceivable way. I am deeply profoundly in love with you.” She professes and I can’t help the huge smile that takes over my face as I step closer to her. 

Tobin leans in and kisses me with such love and tenderness that I can only try and replicate my feelings back through our kiss. I cup her face with one hand while the other roams to the back of her neck pulling her closer. Suddenly she increases the intensity of the kiss and I can feel the passion behind it knowing that this kiss meant more than our others. I graze my tongue against hers and that’s when she loses it. I hear her let out a moan before moving her hands down to my butt and lifting me up. I wrap my legs around her waist as she pushes me up against the wall behind us. Oh my god that was the sexiest thing ever I think as she breaks the kiss and moves down to my neck. She starts placing open-mouthed kisses on my neck and nips at my collarbone and pulse point. If Tobin and the wall weren’t holding me up my knees would have given out. 

Suddenly I hear my phone going off and Tobin backs off a little and looks up at me slightly out of breath. She has a look in her eyes that I’ve never seen before and it makes a shudder run through my body. “Ignore it.” I say pulling her back into a kiss. She holds me and starts walking backwards while still in the kiss. She lays me down on her bed and joins me pressing her core against mine. She moves her mouth to my ear and lets out breathless I love yous. I want to take off Tobin’s shirt so I sit up and pull the garment off of her. I run my fingernails down her toned stomach making her groan. The next thing I know my shirts been taken off and she’s kissing the skin right above my breast. In the last few moments she’s become so gentle that I can feel her love through all of her movements. She’s running her hands along my ribs and mumbles you’re beautiful in between her kisses on my chest. She’s about to take my bra off when the trap door burst open. We jump apart to find Sydney and Pinoe covering their eyes and shouting at us. 

“Oh my god!” Pinoe shrieks in between her hands. 

“We tried calling you!” Sydney yells 

“I’m scarred for LIFE!”

“Well now it makes since why Alex didn’t answer her phone.” Sydney huffs out. 

“Oh my god shut up you two!” Tobin says and rolls off of me covering her own face with her hands. I can hear her muttering to herself and I’ve never seen anyone blush that hard. I put my shirt back on and poke at her until she moves her hand away from her face. She gives me a look that says wow this would happen to us before sitting up and putting on her own discarded shirt. 

“You two can open your eyes now.” She says begrudgingly. Syd immediately takes her hands off her eyes and goes to sit on the floor at the base of the bed. Pinoe slowly removed each hand from her eye and seeing that the coast was clear she sat down next to Sydney. I feel Tobin hop off the bed to grab the forgotten tacos and water now that our moment was ruined. 

“We’re sorry we didn’t know we would be uh interrupting anything.” Syd says looking at me apologetically while Pinoe just started to laugh at the situation. 

“Shut up Megan. Do I need to remind you of the time I came across you and that girl at Ashlyn’s pool party?” Tobin said sitting down next to me and handing a plate over. Pinoe closed her mouth immediately and glared at Tobin. 

“Didn’t think so.” Tobin said cockily before taking a bite of her food. 

“So what was so important that you just had to talk about?” I ask eating my own food. 

“We were really bored and we want to have a party tonight, a bonfire, or something that requires us to get out of sweatpants.” Sydney said while checking her fingernails. 

“Oh! That reminds me of a party that I know we can go to!” I say excitedly. Every ones heads pops up to look at me. I get out of bed and walk to the bag where Servando had written his address. “When I was getting Tobin some fish tacos I ran into this guy who told me he was throwing a party.” I hold it up so everyone can see and Syd grabs it out of my hand and snaps a picture of the address with her phone. 

“You’re the best Alex! I knew Tobs was dating you for a reason!” Pinoe eagerly said jumping from her spot and joining Syd who is running down the stairs.

“Wait where are you guys going?” Tobin asks.

“We have to go get ready we have only 5 hours! Duh Tobin!” Syd says dramatically and with that they both disappear. Tobin just shrugs her shoulders and goes back to eating her tacos. 

“So did you happen to get the name of the guy whose party we’re apparently going to? Tobin questions before taking her last bite of food. 

“Yeah uh Servando Carr-something I don’t really remember his last name.” I say nonchalantly. I twist around when I hear Tobin choke on her food. I hand her my water and she takes a sip to clear her throat. “Are you ok?” 

“Yeah just choked on my food. So we’re going to Servando’s party?” She asks while rubbing the back of her neck. I had caught on that she only does that when she’s nervous and in most situations its adorable but this one makes me curious. 

“Is something wrong?” 

“No I’m uh just thinking about what to wear tonight.” She says quickly. I know she’s lying but I don’t question her any further. I’ve learned with Tobin it’s just easier to let her tell me stuff when she’s ready instead of trying to push her into saying it. I lean over giving her a small kiss on her cheek. 

“I love you.” I state simply and I can physically feel her relax with relief from the change of subject. She turns to me placing her hand on my waist pulling me closer to her. 

“I love you too.” She says kissing me gently. We spend the next couple of hours cuddling in bed before having to get ready for the party.


	11. Chapter 11

I’m walking down the stairs when I see Jacob welcome Tobin in. It makes me so happy the way they get along and that Jacob approves of Tobin. I’ve known Jacob all my life and think of him as part of my family. I watch as they joke around and he puts his hand on her shoulder while leading her to the stairs. She’s midway through saying something to him when she turns to look up at me and her jaw drops. I look down at myself thinking what I had put on wasn’t that spectacular. I’m wearing washed out blue jean shorts and a dark blue top that showed off a little bit of my stomach. It wasn’t anything special but the way Tobin gazed at me made it feel that way. I take in her outfit as I get to the bottom of the stairs. She’s wearing dark jeans, a tank top that had a cool tribal pattern on it, and a red beanie. 

“Hey babe.” She said smiling once I got close enough and pulled me into a hug. “You look amazing by the way.” She whispered into my ear. 

“Your not so bad yourself.” I say chuckling and she just winks and smirks at me. We leave saying goodbye to Jacob and walk towards her bike. I had to admit I hated the machine at first but I had come to love it. It gave me an excuse to hold on tight to Tobin, and although it might not look like it, Tobin had some major abs. She hands me my helmet with a little bit of hesitation. 

“Are you sure you want to go this party? We could always go hang out somewhere else.” She says fiddling with her helmet. 

“Aw come on Toby it’s going to be fun! All the girls are going to be there and I can meet some of the people I’ll be going to school with.” I beg giving her puppy dog eyes and pouting out my lip knowing she couldn’t refuse me when I made this face. 

“Ok I was just making sure.” She said before hopping on the bike and taking off. I had put the address into the map apps on my phone so we wouldn’t get lost. Just like Servando said it was pretty easy to find and soon we’re pulling up to a large house. Tobin parks the bike and helps me off before removing her own helmet. We walk to the front door and I can feel the tension rolling off of Tobin. I glance over and notice that Tobin’s jaw is clenched shut and she’s staring straight ahead. 

“Hey are you ok babe?” I ask concerned

“Yeah I’m fine let’s go have some fun.” She says taking a deep breath and pulling me in through the front door. 

We’re instantly swallowed into the huge mass of teenagers that are in the house. I can hardly walk without bumping into someone and I try my best not to spill anyone’s drink. I look around for Servando but he’s nowhere to be found so we continue to mingle through the party. I’m too busy looking for someone that I might know that I don’t see the dirty looks that people are throwing at Tobin. There is a small space in the crowd and I see Sydney and Pinoe challenging some people to a shot contest so I make my way towards them gripping Tobin’s hand tightly. 

“I bet I can outdrink all you bitches!” Pinoe yells confidently. It makes me chuckle because she’s probably right. From the few times that we had been to parties together both Syd and Pinoe could drink anyone under the table. A couple of people accept the challenge and Syd takes the first one, of course, like a boss. I turn to Tobin who is watching her friends with amusement. 

“Do you mind if I have a couple of drinks Toby?” I ask unsure if she was ok with that. 

“Of course you can. I want to see you happy and having fun!” She says grinning at me. I smile back before making my way towards Pinoe motioning her to pour me a couple. She does so and I throw back two shots back to back to the cheers of the crowd. I scrunch up my face as the tequila burns its way down my throat. 

“I bet you can’t do that again!” Someone shouts out from the crowd. 

“You bet your ass she can! Come on Alex show them what you got!” Pinoe said excitedly pouring me two more shots. Never one to back down from a challenge, I knock back the tequila. After the shots I quickly grab a lime wedge to replace the sour taste in my mouth. I look over at Tobin and she’s silently laughing at me from her spot in the corner, probably from my facial expression after the shots. Syd is pumping her arms in the air screaming that she had a new drinking buddy and Pinoe wants me to join in on their contest but I quickly decline. I leisurely walk over to Tobin and place my hands on her waist. 

“Lets go dance hot stuff.” I say grabbing her hand and headed to where the music sounded to be coming from without waiting for Tobin’s reply. We finally make our way to the designated room for dancing and immediately pull her to the middle of the dance floor. I turn so that my back is against her front and start dancing provocatively. I feel her hands slip down to my waist prior to squeezing them and pulling me impossibly closer. I let the music wash over me and just enjoy dancing with the girl that I loved. For how shy Tobin can be, she is a surprisingly good dancer. I twist around placing one of my legs in between hers and wrapping my arms around her neck. I hear her let out a sigh before bending down to my ear. 

“You are going to be the death of me woman.” She whispers into my ear. 

“Maybe.” I say before backing away from her. 

“Where do you think your going?” She asks smirking at me while holding onto one of my belt loops. 

“To the little ladies room. I’ll be right back why don’t you see if you can find the rest of the girls. I still haven’t seen anyone except Syd and Pinoe yet.” I say while she nods her head and I shuffle off in search of a bathroom. I ended up finding an empty one upstairs. I’m walking out when I bump into someone on the stairs. 

“Oh shit I’m sorry.” I say rapidly.

“Geeze Alex way to spill my drink.” The person says and I look up to see Kelley playfully glaring at me. 

“I’m so sorry your going to have to let me get you another drink.” I jokingly say. 

“I guess you could do that but don’t tell your girlfriend.” She’s able to say before busting into laughter that I join in on. “Hold on just a minute I have to go to the bathroom and then we can go find the other girls.”

“Sounds good.” I only have to wait a minute before Kelley is out of the bathroom and ready to go. 

“This is a pretty fun party.” She says as we make our way downstairs. 

“Yeah it is but I haven’t been able to find Servando anywhere.” I say 

Kelley suddenly seizes my arm halting me from going any further. “Did you just say Servando?” She asks her eyes wide open. 

“Yeah?” 

“Is this his party?” 

“Yeah he was the guy that invited me.”

“Fucking shit! We have to find Tobin. Now!” She said and starts running down the stairs, but I pull her to a stop confused about the whole situation.

“Why is it so bad that this is Servando’s party? And why do we need to find Tobin?” I ask holding onto her so she doesn’t bolt before I get answers. She opens her mouth when we hear a commotion downstairs. She curses under her breath and starts rushing down the stairs dragging me behind her. We make our way to what looks like a crowd of people in a circle. Kelley and I try and force our way through but the crowd is too thick. I’m tall enough however to see over peoples shoulders and what I see in the middle breaks my heart.

There are probably six guys in the middle who are pushing Tobin around in a circle. She stumbles around helplessly not able to get her feet under her before the next guy pushes her. She’s desperately trying to reach for something that one of the guys has in his hand. I look up at the guy whose laughing and am shocked to see its Servando. He raises the item in his hand in the air taunting Tobin with it and I see it’s her red beanie that she had on earlier. I start pushing more aggressively trying to break through the ring to get to Tobin.

“Come on please just let me have my hat back.” I hear her choke out hopelessly. 

“Now why would I do that and ruin all the fun?” Servando says laughing at her. 

“Just let me go already please.” She begs

“You’re the one that showed up to my party Heath you were basically asking for this. Did you get tired of hanging out with surfboards and try to come make some real friends? Well guess what no one wants you here.” He jeers at her. 

Anger rushes through my body and I renew my efforts of getting to Tobin. I look down for a second trying to find a way through all the bodies when I hear a splash and a sharp intake of breath. I quickly look up to find that someone had thrown what looks like beer onto Tobin. The crowd cheers and the guy who did it get’s a couple of pats on the back. She stands there completely dejected and withstands her tormentors waiting for it to be over. Kelley is finally able to slip through the crowd because she’s tinier then me and hurries over to Tobin. She snatches the beanie out of Servando’s hand before he can react and grabs Tobin pulling her out of the circle. She roughly shoves her way through the crowd and they make a small pathway for her. I start to follow them when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I whirl around and Servando is standing in front of me smiling. 

“Hey you made it!”

“What the hell was that?!” I yell at him furious.

“Oh that?” He said motioning to the crowd that was slowly dispersing once the show was over. “ She’s just white trash that for some reason showed up to my party.” He said with a shrug of his shoulders and tries to lead me toward the kitchen. I shrink away from his touch scoffing at him in disgust.

“Don’t ever touch or talk to me again.” I say vehemently before running in the direction I had last seen Tobin and Kelley. I’m able to make my way outside but only find Kelley in the driveway. 

“Where’s Tobin?” I ask Kelley urgently 

“She took off on her bike as soon as we got outside.” She says staring off into the distance. “Did you know this was Servando’s party?” she asks turning to face me. 

“Yes but I told Tobin that and she didn’t say anything to me.” I say thinking if she had said anything earlier that day. 

“I just don’t understand why she would come if she knew this was Servando’s party. She must have known something like this would happen.” Kelley remarks. 

“Oh my god I’m such an idiot.” I utter. I’m remembering how hesitant and nervous Tobin was when I mentioned the party and when we first got here. A pain wells up inside of me as I realize I basically forced her to come with me, and Tobin, my sweet loving Tobin, came even though she knew she would be ridiculed. Tears well up in my eyes and I start crying from the pain and humiliation I’d caused Tobin.   
“Hey what’s wrong?” Kelley asks me in alarm.

“I think she tried hinting that she didn’t want to come to the party but I told her that I wanted her to come with me. Kelley I’m responsible for what happened back there. If it wasn’t for me she would never have come to this party.” I cry out. I feel Kelley wrap her arms around me pulling me into a hug trying to soothe me. 

“Alex this isn’t your fault! Servando’s a dick who just hates Tobin. I bet she thought that he had maybe matured a little bit more when he was away in Europe and that nothing would happen. Come on I’ll get Cheney to drive you to the shop and you can wait there for her. Does that sound good?” She says rubbing small circles on my back. I nod my head wiping away the tears from my face and watch as Kelley scurries back into the party to find Cheney. I only have to wait a few minutes before I see the entire gang walk out the front door. 

“Why are all of you guys leaving?” I asks once they got close enough. 

“We aren’t staying at a party that’s thrown by Servando.” Sydney said with a repulsed look on her face. 

“Yeah not after all he’s done to Tobs.” Ashlyn bitterly said. 

“If we had known this was his party we would have gone somewhere else.” Cheney voiced. 

“I threw my drink on him when we were walking out the door.” Pinoe states proudly. 

“Lets get away from this shithead’s party.” Ali said grabbing Ashlyn’s hand and starts walking to where the cars are parked. I nod my head and follow Cheney and Kelley as we maneuver to her car. Ashlyn is driving the other girls home because she had been the other designated driver. I’m quiet the whole ride to the shop riddled with guilt. It feels like we are only in the car for a few seconds before Cheney pulls to a stop in front of the shop. She turns to look at me with compassion on her face. 

“Alex don’t beat yourself up about it. You couldn’t possibly know that this was going to happen.” She said while patting my knee. 

“Thanks Cheney.” I say getting out of the car starting for the balcony. 

“Hey Alex.” I hear Cheney call out and I spin around to face her. Both her and Kelley have their heads out the window and are looking at me. “Just take care of our girl.” She says simply and Kelley smiles at me. 

“I will I promise.” I vow. They both smile at me and I watch them back up and drive away. I climb up to the balcony and slip through the door hoping to find Tobin there. My little bubble of hope deflates as I looked around the room and I didn’t see her anywhere. I make my way to her studio because it always comforts me. I run my hands along her desk and the tools that hung neatly on the wall in front of it. I walk over to the shelf that holds all of the carvings that she loved and couldn’t sell. I slowly pick up that one that’s my favorite. The wood started off dark but morphed into an almost white color. She had carved two dragons with their bodies intertwined around each other. The detail in both dragons was truly incredible and the way the wood changed colors made the artwork even more spectacular. A tear falls from my cheek onto the piece and I quickly wipe it away. For the majority of her life it seemed like she was tormented by someone but she hadn’t let it affect her in a negative way. Tobin was such a caring gentle person that I can’t believe someone could treat her as badly as the people at the party had. I carefully put it back in its place and exit the room. I loved being in there but it seemed weird not having Tobin there whittling away at a piece of wood. 

I slip on some of Tobin’s clothes before getting into her bed. I loved wearing her clothes and I knew for a fact that she loved seeing me in her clothes. I planned on waiting up until Tobin came back so I could apologize and talk to her. I glance down at my watch and see that’s its 1:34. Thinking that she would be back soon because its late, I get comfortable in bed. My eyes seem to close of their own accord even though I try my best to stay awake. The last thing I remember before my eyes, tired from crying over the night’s events, close and I drift off, is the comforting smell of the ocean and pine that always reminds me of Tobin.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so sorry it's taken so long to update. I had a huge competition this past weekend and had no time to write in between sessions. It's back to Tobin's POV hope you guys like it!

Tobin’s POV

I sat on the cliff with my eyes closed just letting the sound of the ocean wash over me. This place that I had shared with my mother, and now Alex, always had a calming affect on me. Whenever I needed to escape from the real world I came here to think. 

I knew I shouldn’t have gone to the party, but I hadn’t been able to refuse Alex. She had looked so excited to go and all I wanted was for her to be happy. I thought that Servando had maybe grown up while in Europe and he would come back not hating me anymore. The worst part of the night though wasn’t Servando picking on me, or that guy throwing his drink on me. It was the look on Alex’s face when she saw me in the middle of the crowd. Alex’s face had morphed from confusion to shock and finally to pity. Shame washed over me once I saw the look on her face and I wanted nothing more then to just disappear. I had hoped that I would be able to escape before she saw me like that and make an excuse for us to leave the party. When Kelley was able to drag me out I immediately hopped on my bike and drove here to clear my head. 

I didn’t know if Alex would still want to be with me after tonight and a pain hit me in my chest at the thought of not being with her. The last couple of months have been the happiest I've been in a long time. I fiddle with the beanie in my hand before bringing it up to my face and inhaling deeply. The beanie was one of the last memories I had of my mother. It no longer smelled like her but it was still comforting. A breeze picks up making me shiver because my shirt was still damp and I stand planning on leaving. I didn’t want to go home yet just in case some of the girls where they’re waiting for me, I wasn’t in the mood to talk to them at the moment. I check my watch and see that’s its well past midnight. Thinking of the next best place to go I hike back to my bike and head off. I walk into Purple Haze and sit in my normal spot at the bar waiting for Hope to finish making the guy at the end of the bar his drink. 

“Hey Tobs where’s Alex?” She asks while walking towards me. “And why are you wet and smell like beer?” 

“Long story.” I mumble out. She looks at me before going to the back and quickly returning with a large slice of pecan pie. I stab at it with my fork while repeating everything that happened that night. Hope leaned against the bar and listened to my story without much of a facial expression. 

“Where’s Alex Tobin?” She asks after a few moments of silence.

“I don’t know. Probably back at her house thinking of ways to break up with me.” I gloomily say. 

“Tobin you’ve got to stop thinking like that. I’ve seen the way she looks at you when you two come in here. I wish someone would look at me like that. She loves you don’t ever doubt that.” Hope says with a sigh.

“She deserves someone so much better than me Hope. I love her so much but I can’t offer her anything.”

“Maybe all she needs is your love.” Hope says tapping the bars with her knuckles. “The people who are with you during your darkest nights are the ones worth spending your brightest days with. Don’t think so little of Alex, she’s stuck by your side after all that you’ve told her. To me that doesn’t sound like someone who will runaway just because some stupid kid cant get over something that happened in the past that wasn’t your fault.” She says looking at me seriously. I sigh and I know Hope can tell I’m still unsure. 

“Listen Tobs, life has many different chapters. One bad chapter doesn’t mean it’s a bad book.” I sigh again knowing she’s right. 

“When did you become so philosophical?” I jokingly ask. 

“When did you become such a love sick puppy?” She says raising an eyebrow.

“Touché.” I chuckle out. I dig out my wallet place a five on the bar and push back my stool. “Thanks again Hope, you always know what to say.” 

“Anytime kid. Bring Alex around more often. I want to get to know the girl that snagged Tobin Heath’s heart.” She said laughing. I smile at her before exiting the building and make my way home. I park my bike once I get back to the shop and climb up to the balcony. I slide open the door wanting nothing more than just to take a shower and get into bed, but stop abruptly when I see someone’s head pop up from my bed. Alex is lying in my bed but upon seeing me she sits up and rubs the sleep out of her eyes. She crawls out from under the covers and sits on the edge of the bed. I notice she’s wearing my favorite pair of boxers and a small smile crosses my face. 

“Hey.” I say walking slowly towards her. 

“Tobin I’m so sorry this was all my fault! I should have known that you were dropping hints about not wanting to go the party. I was so stupid and-“

“Alex its ok! That wasn’t your fault.” I say quickly taking her hands in mine and kneeling in front of her. 

“Look at you. You’re the one that was harassed at the party and your comforting me. Gosh I must be the worst girlfriend ever.” She says teary eyed. My heart swells over the fact that she just called herself my girlfriend. All the worry drains from my body knowing that she wasn’t leaving me and I wipe away the tears that started to flow down Alex’s cheeks. 

“Alex you’re probably the best girlfriend in the world. I don’t know very many people who would still want to be with me after they found out most of the town hated me. Your incredible and I’m so happy that you’re here right now.” I say prior to placing a gentle kiss on her lips. 

“Why does he hate you so much?” She asks once she’s calmed down a little bit. 

I let out a long breath before standing and grabbing the chair across the room so I could sit on it. I didn’t want to get on my bed when I still smelled and was covered in beer. 

“ Two years ago I was seeing this girl. Her name was Maria and she was Servando’s twin sister.” I say judging Alex’s reaction. She looked surprised but urged me with a head nod to continue with the story. “We uh were kind of secretive about it because she didn’t want her family to know she was gay. People knew I was but I didn’t broadcast it or anything, not wanting it to get back to my dad. The only people that knew about our relationship were Servando and my friends. Servando was fine with it and even helped us sneak out of precarious situations.”

“One day we were in town and I wasn’t as careful as I usually was I guess. I held Maria’s hand and kissed her when I thought know one was looking. I get back to my house that night to find my dad sitting in a chair waiting for me. Apparently he had been hiding between two buildings when he saw Maria and I. To say he was furious was an understatement. That night I got one of the worst beatings I’d ever got from him. He was out of his mind angry that I was gay and said he would just have to beat it out of me.” I say gulping back the lump in my throat. Alex takes my hands and begins rubbing circles into them to soothe me. 

“After that I stayed away from Maria for a week. I made Kelley give her messages from me telling her what was going on. I didn’t want my dad to find out who she really was and go after her. A couple of weeks after the incident I began to notice a change in Maria. She was never at home anymore and she stopped talking to all of her cheerleading friends. She started hanging out with a rougher crowd that I knew bought the drugs my dad sold. Servando and I couldn’t figure out what was going on and we were clueless for the first couple of months, that is until I caught her. I used to surprise her all the time by climbing into her bedroom window because she always left it open for me. I climbed in and found her with a needle in her arm. It turned out she had been doing heroin.”

“I remember just looking at her in disbelief. The smart talented girl that I had fallen in love with and made me feel loved had turned to the one thing that I couldn’t stand. I screamed at her demanding to know where she had gotten them from. She was high and laughing at me. I shook her shoulders until she finally told me. My dad had found out who she was and convinced her to try some, had even given her a dime bag for free. At this point she was beginning to nod off and I couldn’t get her to stay awake. I laid her on her side and rushed out to get Servando. I found him and told him everything trying not to cry. He said we had to think about this logically but couldn’t tell his parents because they would disown her. So we kept it quiet. We made sure that one of us was always with her, found all of her heroin and threw it out, and made her stop hanging out with those new friends of hers. It worked for about a week.”

“Servando and her were out buying groceries when she was able to slip away. He couldn’t find her anywhere and was freaking out. He called Kelley because I don’t have a phone and luckily I was with her at the time. He picks me up and we go off in search for her. We looked for hours but were unable to find her. We go back to his house to figure out what we were going to do next.” 

“We found her in her bedroom. I guess she had gotten there after we had checked on it before looking all over town. Several needles were lying on her bedside table and she wasn’t moving. She had um choked on her own vomit and suffocated. Servando didn’t believe it at first. He checked her pulse, pounded on her chest, screamed at her before collapsing to the ground in disbelief. I was frozen. I couldn’t believe someone else had been taken from my life. Servando turned to me in a rage after a few minutes of silence. He blamed me for her death. He said that if she hadn’t met me then this never would have happened. She wouldn’t have met my dad and she would still be alive.” I choke out tears forming in my eyes. I stared at our connected hands needing a focal point. 

“Word of her death spread like wildfire. It was hushed up how she died but everyone knew that it involved me. Servando made it sound like her death was my fault and soon people all around town hated me. I confronted my father but all he did was laugh in my face. He didn’t even hit me. I think he saw how much pain I was in and was satisfied with it. So Servando hates me because he blames Maria’s death on me. And I can’t help but always think if I had done something differently, maybe she would still be alive today.” I say closing my eyes and bow my head. I feel Alex’s hands on my face and wait a few seconds until meeting her eyes. 

“Tobin I-” She says before swallowing and I can see she’s silently crying. I wipe away her tears before she continues talking. “I- I am so unbelievably sorry. You…you have experienced more pain than anyone else I know, yet you still have a gentle soul. You are very special don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. I love you. ” She says bringing my face to hers and connecting our lips. 

“There aren’t enough words in the world that could translate how much I love you. Thank you for loving me when no one else could.” I whisper against her lips. She tries pulling me into bed with her but I resist. She gives me a confused look knowing I never pass up the chance to cuddle with her. 

“Babe I’m not getting into bed when I’m covered in beer.” I chuckle out. I feel like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and even after all the events that occurred tonight I’m happy. I’m so happy that I can call the beautiful girl in front of me mine and she accepts me and my past. She stares at me with a strange look in her eyes before climbing out of bed. She grabs my hand and leads me towards the bathroom. I’m still puzzled until she turns around and starts to take off my shirt. 

“We never finished what we started this morning.” She says while staring at me intently. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest at the thought of what was about to occur. I lean forward until my mouth is right next to her ear. 

“What are you going to do about it?”


	13. Chapter 13

Alex tilts back searching my face for any doubt or hesitation when she finds none she takes off my beer soaked shirt. She runs her hands along my stomach and I shiver from the contact. I pull her to me and bring my lips to hers kissing her urgently. I slide my tongue over the seam of her lips and crash my lips to her parted ones. My arms tightened around her waist holding her hips pressed to mine. My hands ran down her spine before slipping under her shirt. Her skin felt like satin under my hands and I wanted to feel more of it. I quickly strip off her shirt and begin fiddling with the buttons on her shorts. I finally get them undone and she shimmies out of them. In what seems like a flash both of our clothes hit the floor and we’re standing in front of each other naked. I can’t help but stare at how beautiful Alex is. She takes my hand and brings me into the shower and I follow like a lost puppy. She turns the shower on and warm water sprays over our bodies. 

She pulls me against her and I gasp at the feeling of our bodies together. I start running my hands all over her body wanting to feel every inch of her. She presses closer to me and moans into my mouth when I touch her breasts, and the sweet sound was almost my undoing. My lips are still locked with hers and my tongue explored her mouth with unrestrained passion. Her hands travel down my back and squeeze my butt making my hips thrust forward. One of my hands makes its way to her hip and I continue to lower it with one destination in mind. Alex suddenly pulls back putting her hands on my shoulders. 

“What?” I ask out of breath with desire. 

“Can we wait like 3 minutes?” She chuckles at me when she sees the baffled look on my face wondering why the hell we had to wait three minutes. “I want our first time to be in your bed and you need to wash the beer off of you first.” I smile at her before nodding my head in agreement. To be honest I had gotten so caught up in the moment I forgot we were in the shower. She takes a washcloth puts soap on it and begins washing my body tenderly with it. She rubs the cloth across my skin and I sigh in pleasure at her touch. 

I quickly rinse off once she’s done washing me and step out of the shower turning it off. I dry off her body before I dry off my own and once again desire rushes through me as I wipe away the water on her skin. Not wanting to wait any longer I pick Alex up, which causes her to giggle, and carry her to my bed. I lay her down on my bed and follow placing myself on my elbows above her. I capture her lips and kiss her with an urgent hunger and intertwine our tongues together. My hands caress her breast and she moans into my mouth. I break away from her lips and kiss my way down her throat and collarbone. I keep going and take one of her breast into my mouth. She gasped loudly shoving her fingers into my hair keeping me in place. I alternate kissing each breast before moving back up to her lips. 

My fingers travel down her side and I slip a finger into her folds. I groan and drop my head onto her shoulder when I feel how wet she is. I lean up on one elbow looking down at Alex and all of her beauty. How this woman was mine was beyond me but I would stay with her as long as she would have me. 

“I love you Alex.” I whisper out staring at her deep blue eyes. 

“I love you Tobin.” She said smiling at me. 

I bent my head and kissed her long and thoroughly while I slid a finger into her. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders bringing me closer to her. I started slowly pumping my hand and her hips rose up to meet my hand. Feeling the need inside of her rising I increase my pace and add another finger. We continue for a few minutes before I can feel her tightening around my fingers.

“Oh my god Tobin.” She says letting her head fall back onto the pillow.

I reveled in her muffled cry as she dug her nails into my back and began to shudder convulsively beneath me. I slowly move my fingers in and out of her helping her ride out her orgasm. I shift to my side bringing her with me. Breathless from exertion I held her in my arms stroking her back. 

“Tobin that was amazing.” Alex says her chest still heaving. 

“Mmm your welcome.” I smirk at her before kissing her gently.

“Well aren’t you full of yourself.” She chuckles out. 

“Naa I just like taking care of my girl.” I respond smiling brightly at her. 

“Well I need to return the favor.” She says seductively with a gleam in her eye before flipping me over to where she’s on top. 

We spend the rest of the night exploring every inch of each other’s bodies. The last thing I remember before falling asleep is running my hands through Alex’s hair, as she laid on top of me in complete bliss. 

I wake up the next morning with Alex still sleeping on my chest. I lay there letting my hands wander over her bare skin. Eventually Alex wakes up but just nuzzles her face into my neck. I kiss her forehead before putting my fingers under her chin so I could see her face. 

“I can’t tell you how much I love the feeling of waking up next to you.” I express to her sincerely. She places her hand on my cheek just gazing into my eyes. We stay like that for what seems like forever until I get out of bed to get dressed for the day. I turn around as I pull a shirt over my head and catch Alex watching me. 

“You like what you see?” I taunt her jokingly. 

“Very much so.” She says biting her lip. Desire wells up in me as I take in the sight of her naked in my bed. 

“You are so tempting right now.” I whimper out. 

“Then why don’t you come and join me.” She says patting the spot on the bed next to her. 

“Because if I do that we won’t leave that bed all day.” I warned and checked my watch. “Plus Kelley will be here in 15 minutes.” 

She stuck out her lip pouting letting out a puff of air. She got out of bed and strutted towards me causing my jaw to drop at the sight of her in the morning light. She walked passed me but not before running her fingers down my arm. She went to my drawers and began pulling out some of my clothes that she would wear for the day. I shake my head a quickly walk into the bathroom. I could only restrain myself for so long and her teasing me like that was completely unfair. 

By the time we’re both dressed and are downstairs starting a batch of coffee, Kelley and Cheney march in. Cheney gives me a worried look but I just give her thumbs up and a nod to signal that I’m fine. She walks passed me patting me on the shoulder and pours herself a cup of coffee. Kelley is sitting on the couch with Alex and both are whispering with their heads bent close together. I watch their interaction and smile whenever I see Alex giggling at something Kelley said. I look away abruptly when I feel Cheney hip check me. 

“Sooooo?” Cheney asks and I know she’s referring to all that occurred last night. 

“I told Alex about Maria.” I mutter looking at the coffee in my hands. 

“Andddd?”

“Well she’s still here so obviously she wasn’t that freaked out by it. She’s so amazing Cheney. She still wants to be with me even though my past is crazy. I never thought I would meet someone like her who would accept me like this.” I say getting a little choked up. 

“You really love her don’t you?” She asks wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

“With all my heart.” I say looking over at Alex. Cheney squeezes my shoulders and I smile at her. I start to make Alex a cup of coffee when I hear Kelley squeal loudly from behind me. 

“OH MY GOD! SERIOUSLY?!” She screams looking at Alex who is slightly blushing but laughing and nodding her head. 

“AHH!!” Kelley shrieks before jumping up from the couch and running over to me giving me a bear hug. She pulls back and I see her eyes are actually a little moist. 

“Alex told me about you two! My little baby is growing up!” She says clasping her hands together and jumping up and down in place. I feel my ears immediately start to turn red and I roll my eyes turning my attention back to Alex’s coffee. 

“What is she talking abo- OHHH.” Cheney says smirking at me now and giving me a playful push. “You sly dog you! You weren’t going to tell me anything!” 

“Guys come on its not the first time I’ve had sex.” I mumble under my breath. 

“Yeah buts it the first time you’ve had sex when you’re in an actual relationship.” Kelley pipes in. 

“ Really?” I hear Alex call out from behind me.

“ I’m going to kill you Kelley.” I say glaring at her. I feel Alex wrap her arms from behind me giving me a kiss on the back of my neck. 

“I think it’s adorable.” She whispers in my ear. I place my hands on top of hers silently telling her thank you. We end up eating breakfast and talking with Cheney and Kelley for the next hour, making plans to go to the beach later today with the rest of the girls. They leave shortly afterwards and Alex and I go upstairs and lay in bed tangled together. Her head is in the crook of my shoulder and she’s tracing my hand with her fingers. 

“My birthday is on Sunday.” She blurts out. 

“Really? I already have a present ready for you.” I say smiling. I had finally been able to finish Alex’s box. I had scrutinized over every little possible detail. I had carved the box to where a cherry blossom tree was raised above the flat surface of the lid. I had even made a secret compartment in the bottom of the box. It was one of my best works and I hoped that she loved it. 

“My parents are throwing me a party and I wanted you and the rest of the girls to come.” She says still playing with my hand. For some reason she looks nervous so I place my hand on top of hers and wait for her to look at me. 

“ You know that I would go anywhere with you. Why do you look nervous?”

“I want to introduce you to them as my girlfriend.” She whispers out looking at me uncertainly. My heart swells in my chest at the thought that she was proud enough of me to introduce to her parents. I squeeze her tightly and kiss the top of her head. 

“Are you sure?”

“More than anything.”

“ Then of course I’ll go as your girlfriend.” I say beaming at her. She lets out a shaky breath and I feel her whole body relax. We lay there for another hour before getting ready to meet the girls on the beach. They had already set up a spot thankfully so we sat down and fell into easy conversation. I couldn’t help but smile thinking I’m surrounded by the people I love more than anything else in the world.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait guys! I'm not even exaggerating when I say these last two weeks have been the busiest of my life! Thought about splitting this into two chapters but decided to just give you guys the whole thing.

I’m at Cheney’s house waiting for her to pick out an outfit for me that I could wear to Alex’s birthday party. I didn’t own any dress clothes and Cheney was always the best at dressing people up so the obvious choice was to go to her house. I’m sitting on her bed as she shifts through her closet looking for the “perfect outfit” as she calls it. She works for a catering business and it so happens that Alex’s parents chose the one she works at to cater Alex’s party. 

“Yes! I think I found it!” Cheney exclaims excitedly. She’s holding up a pretty white sundress. “This is going to really show off your tan and your legs.” I just look at it skeptically. I can’t remember the last time I wore a dress. 

“Come on Tobs! Alex is going to love you in this dress.” She said shaking the hanger. I roll my eyes taking it out of her hands and she jumps up and down in excitement.  
I strip my clothes off and pull the dress on. It’s got thin straps and stops about mid thigh. Cheney was right it did show off my tan. I turn around and watch as she walks towards me with a simple but cute pair of sandals. I put them on and she motions for me to spin around and I do so. 

“You look perfect Tobin!” She said clapping her hands with joy. 

“Thanks Cheney” I say smiling at her.

“Now get out of here because I have to leave for work” She said chuckling and pushing me out the door. 

 

I pull up to the party several hours later riding with Syd and Pinoe because they convinced me it would be unlady like to ride my bike in a dress. This is the first time seeing Alex’s house for my friends and their jaws drop open when I point to the driveway to pull in. 

“This is HER house?!?!” Syd says flabbergasted.

“Damn Tobs I didn’t even know she was rich.” Pinoe exclaims. 

“Yeahhhh she doesn’t really flaunt it.” I say rubbing the back of my neck. 

We pull up in front of the house where a guy takes Syd’s keys to park the car in a designated spot. 

“Valet at a birthday party? Hell I can’t wait to try the food!” Pinoe says eagerly

I just chuckle at my friends and walk through the front door. Jacob greets us professionally but gives me a quick wink. I walk to the back of the house where all the sound was coming from and realize that everyone is outside, and for a good reason. There are several huge white tents covering almost the entire back yard with many round tables underneath. Along with the tents, there is a band playing and a bar on each side of the yard. I look around and realize that most of the guest were way older than us and were dressed in really nice attire. Feeling out of place I try and spot Alex but can’t find her anywhere. I walk forward hoping to run into her but before I see her I make eye contact with Cheney. I smile at her in relief and walk up to her where she is serving appetizers. 

“Hey what’s up Tobs!” She says once I’m close enough. 

“Nothing much me, Syd, and Pinoe just got here. I can’t find Alex anywhere though.” I say while scanning the crowd for my girlfriend. 

“Well stick around because she’s already been by the snack table twice in the last ten minutes.” Cheney chuckles. I stay by Cheney chatting with her for a few minutes when I feel a hand on my lower back. Smiling I turn around to meet those gorgeous blue eyes that I fell in love with. 

“Happy Birthday beautiful.” I say smiling at Alex and giving her a quick peck on the lips. 

“Thanks Toby! You look great by the way.” She said holding my arms out to the side. 

“Ditto Lex. Not as good as you did this morning though.” I whisper the last part and lean back winking at Alex as a blush rises up on her cheeks. We had spent the entire morning memorizing each other’s bodies in my bed before she had to leave to get ready for the party. 

“Ok ok you two need to stop with the googily eyes your scaring people away from the hors d'oeuvre.” Cheney said shooing us away. We giggle and leave Cheney to serve people. 

“Lex there are a lot of older people here. Are we the only friends your age?” I ask jokingly bumping my shoulder into hers. 

“Well my mom is using my birthday party as an excuse to find more benefactors for her charity. That’s why I wanted you guys to come, I wanted some people my age at my own party.” She says while leading me through the crowd. I frown to myself wondering if Alex was forced to deal with this for all her birthday parties. I’m deep in thought about Alex and her relationship with her parents and don’t realize we’ve come to a halt. I bump into Alex’s back and jump back to life seeing we were in front of a well-dressed man. 

“Tobin this is my dad. Dad this is Tobin. My girlfriend.” She says looking at her dad intensely. I nervously hold out my hand and he takes it immediately smiling at me. 

“So you’re the person that my Alex can’t stop talking about. Well it’s very nice to meet you Tobin.” He said smiling at me.

“Its nice to meet you too Mr. Morgan.” I say shakily.

“We can catch up with each other over dinner in a little bit, if you’ll excuse me I have to talk to Schmitt about a start up company in Tokyo.” He said before kissing Alex on the head and walking off. I let out a breath in relief that meeting Alex’s dad wasn’t a huge deal. Alex has got the biggest grin on her face watching me. 

“Now its time to meet my mom!”

I laugh at how excited she is to introduce me to her parents. She pulls me along until we’re in front of the classiest looking woman I’d ever seen. She’s deep in conversation with an elderly lady and Alex waits patiently for their conversation to end. Once it’s over Alex quickly jumps in before her mom can get into another conversation.

“Hey mom this is Tobin, my girlfriend.” 

Her mom glances over and looks me up and down. I can feel my heart start to beat faster knowing that she instantly disapproves of me.

“Your last name is Heath isn’t it?” I hear her ask and my stomach drops. 

“Yes mam.” 

“Hmm. Well Alex I have important things to see to.” And with that Alex’s mom walked off leaving a sour taste in my mouth. 

“I’m sorry Tobin I don’t know what’s wrong with her lately.” Alex says trying to make an excuse. 

“Its ok Lex I get it.” I reply putting a smile on my face for her. She sighs knowing it probably affected me but pulls me by my hand towards the area our friends are gathered. We are all laughing and enjoying ourselves until I see Alex’s mother and Servando making their way towards us. 

“Alex! Dear come and meet Servando. I just met his parents and realize that you two have many things in common. I’ll leave you to it.” She said walking away. My friends give Servando the death glare while I stare at my feet and Alex moves closer to me. 

“Listen Alex I didn’t ask for this; your mom just pulled me along and I couldn’t get out of it.” He says explaining himself completely ignoring my presence. 

“Yeah that sounds like her.” Alex rolls her eyes.

“Just pretend to talk to me for a few minutes and then I’ll disappear.

“Fine whatever.” She said and turned to face him pretending to be intrigued with what he said. 

“Ok my mom’s not looking anymore you can go now.” Alex says. 

“Now that this has been sufficiently awkward I’m going to leave.” Servando responds swinging his arms before retreating into the crowd. 

“You know that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be” Kelley states. 

“I’m sorry for that Tobin. My mom always tries to set me up with one of her charity friend’s kids.”

“No it’s fine Alex I understand.” The truth was I did understand. Her mom is probably wondering why the hell Alex is with someone like me when Servando would date her in a heartbeat. 

“It’s time for dinner lets go eat I’m starving!” Alex says excitedly 

We walk to our designated tables and I’m about to sit down with the rest of my friends at small table when I feel a tug on my hand. I find Alex leading me in the opposite direction towards one of the larger tables. 

“You’re sitting with me silly!” She says tapping my nose. 

Once we arrive to the larger table I sit on Alex’s left almost directly across from her mother. Alex’s dad sits at the head of the table and I instantly get nervous when he turns towards me. 

“So Tobin now that we’re sitting down tell me about yourself.” Mr. Morgan states. 

“Well I’m turning 19 in a few weeks. I work at the Sun Sand and Surf shop down by the coast and sell the art that I carve to several stores in town.”

“Alex has told me about some of your work. If you’re as good as she says you are, I would really like to see some of your carvings.” He says smiling sweetly at me. 

“That could be arranged sir.” I say smiling back at him. 

“Its going to have to wait until we get back from Paris.” Mrs. Morgan says. 

“Paris?” I question. 

“Yes we leave in the morning.” At this statement I look at Alex confused. 

“I just found out before the party that I’ll be in Paris for the last 2 weeks of summer vacation. I was going to tell you afterwards I’m sorry.” She explains quickly. 

“Its ok Alex.” I chuckle at her. “I’m just sorry that we can’t spend the last couple of weeks of summer together.”

“What are your future plans?” I hear Alex’s mother asks.

“At the moment I’m perfectly content with my life. I make enough money to get by and really enjoy what I do.”

“Well isn’t that lovely. Now Katie why don’t you tell us about your time in Abu Dhabi this past month.” Mrs. Morgan says directing the conversation away from me. I let out a little breath and feel Alex’s hand on my thigh underneath the table comforting me. I glance at her squeezing her hand, silently telling her I was fine. 

The dinner was absolutely delicious. I had never eaten this type of high-class food before so I was completely floored on how good it was. I think Alex was getting a kick out of it because every time they brought out a different dish my eyes would widen and she would giggle at me. After sitting at the table for an hour or so, the party began to wind down and people were leaving. I get up to say goodbye to the gang and find that Alex is nowhere in sight. 

I say goodbye to the girls as they leave and decide its time to give Alex my gift. I go to the closet by the front door where I hid it when I first arrived to the party. I take it out and walk towards the stairs when I see Jacob.

“Well hello Tobin I thought you had left already what are you still doing here?” Jacob asks curiously. 

“I wanted to wait until everyone had left until I gave Alex her present.” I hand over the present to Jacob so he could look at it. It’s in a cute box with a bow on it because I gave up on wrapping after an hour of trying. He opens the present to reveal the box I had carved Alex. He pulls it out gently running his hands along it.

“This is truly spectacular Tobin. Alex told me that you carved but I didn’t know you were this talented.” Jacob said with wonder in his eyes. I motion for him to open the box and he does. Inside is a beautiful silver necklace with a sapphire on it. It had made a huge dent in the money I had been saving up for the past year but it would be worth it when I see Alex’s face. Jacob is still quiet so I felt the need to explain myself. 

“It’s not much you know but Alex deserves to have nice things. I won’t be able to give her much but I’ll try my best to give her everything she wants.” I say rambling at this point. Jacob finally breaks his silence looking at me. 

“Tobin have you ever thought that all Alex wants is love?” Jacob asks sincerely

I pause at his comment and think about it. I noticed the way Alex’s mom acted and can’t help but wonder what it was like growing up in this household. Sure I had it rough with my dad, but at least I had known what love was with my mom. 

“In the past few weeks Alex has been happier then the last few years combined. She would love anything that you gave her. It could be a toothpick and she would talk about it non-stop. This gift is unbelievable and she’s going to be speechless from it.” Jacob says from the bottom of his heart.  
“Thanks Jacob. That means a lot to me because you two are so close.” I manage to choke out past the lump in my throat.

“Go get her tiger.” Jacob says smiling and giving me a small wink 

I basically run up the stairs excited to give Alex her gift. I’m skipping down the hallway when I hear voices coming from Alex’s bedroom. I turn around thinking I’m intruding but halt abruptly when I hear my name. 

“I don’t want you seeing that Heath girl anymore Alexandra.”

“Why not mom?”

“Didn’t you see her? She talked more with the staff than she did with the guest. She doesn’t belong here.”

“I want her here.”

“Alex this is preposterous. Look I told you it would look so much better for your father’s company and my charity if you were dating a nice boy like Servando.”

“I wont do that mom I love Tobin-”

Love her? Oh no no no. We cannot have that. I’ll call up Servando’s parents and find out if they want to join us in Paris

“Mom has this got something to do with me being gay? We’ve been over this! Dad doesn’t care that I am so why cant you accept me?!”

“I don’t care if you’re gay in your own private time when you aren’t at a convention representing us. I care that it’s with that Heath girl. Do you know what Servando’s parents told me about her?

“It shouldn’t matter what they say!”

“Why wouldn’t it? They are a very well respective family here in town.”

“Because she has made me feel more loved in the past two months then you have in the past ten years!” 

“She is trash. She is no good for you Alexandra she probably doesn’t even have two nickels to rub together. Also I wont have my daughter parading around with the daughter of a drug dealer.” With every word her mother says its like a knife being stabbed into my heart. I had always known that Alex was too good for me, and now her mom was trying to convince her of that fact. 

“Mom you don’t even kno- “

“My word is final Alex you will stop seeing her you will go to Paris and Servando will most likely be there.”

“You can’t make me stop loving her!”

I can hear Alex’s voice break with emotion and before I can move, the door opens and Alex comes rushing out her mother quickly following. They both stop when they see me standing there stupidly with Alex’s present in my hand. 

“Tobin. How long have you been standing there?” Alex asks and I can see she has tears on her cheeks. I’m filled with anguish at the knowledge that I am the cause of those tears. I’m about to answer when Alex’s mom steps in front, blocking Alex from my view. 

“What do you want?” She asks me coldly.

“I uh I just wanted to give Alex her birthday gift.” I say holding the box out to Alex. She tries to reach around her mother to grab it but is too slow. I watch in dejection as her mother opens the present and pulls out the box that I had worked so diligently on. She pauses once she sees the deep red walnut case but opens it quickly and spots the thin jewelry package inside.

“Oh and what do we have here?” She rhetorically asks. She opens the thin box to reveal the silver necklace and sapphire. She holds it up on one finger and scoffs at it before dropping it back into the box I carved and shutting it closed. 

“Do you think this is what my daughter deserves? A clumsily carved hunk of wood and a cheap silver chain?” She asks in disdain shoving the box back into my hands. 

“No mam.” I say staring at my feet in complete embarrassment that I thought those two things would be enough for Alex. 

“Listen to me carefully girl. I don’t want you seeing my daughter anymore. She is thoroughly out of your league.” My head snaps up at that and I instantly look at Alex. 

“Mom stop!” Alex shouts.

“Lex?.” I say so heartbroken and filled with agony I thought I was going to pass out. 

“Tobin don’t liste-“

“Leave now before I get Jacob to force you out.” Alex’s mother threatens. I just stare at her not believing what I was hearing.

“Mom please-“

“Now!” Mrs. Morgan exclaims.

My chest is heaving at this point as my breath starts to come out faster and grief wells up in me. I look up one last time at Alex and can only imagine the heartbreak that is on her face is replicated on mine as well. I turn around in a daze walking down the stairs slowly. Jacob is at the bottom of the stairs and meets my eyes with a look of confusion on his face. 

“Tobin what’s wrong? Why didn’t you give Alex her present?”

Unable to answer that question, and begin to walk away when I realize I still have Alex’s gift in my hand. I spin back to Jacob and give him the box that I had spent hour upon hours agonizing over. 

“Jacob would you please give this to Alex later tonight. And could you please tell her I am sorry. That I am so sorry that I wasn’t enough for her.” With that I left a baffled Jacob behind and walked out the front door of the Morgan’s house, tears streaming down my face, for what felt like to be the last time.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've been terrible at updating lately but my professors are slamming me with homework. Hope you guys enjoy and I'll try to update more regularly.

Alex’s POV

I watched as Tobin woefully walked down the stairs. I turned to see my mother with a satisfied look on her face at the sight of Tobin leaving. 

“ I hate you.” I hiss out. 

“ Alex stop being dramatic. It was just a summer fling.” She said.

“ It was not a fling for me. I love her! 

“Your being ridiculous. Go pack we’re leaving here at 5:30 tomorrow morning for the airport.”

“I’m not going.”

“Alexandra I will force you onto that plane even if you’re kicking and screaming.” With that she twirled around and leisurely walked down the corridor to her room. 

I ran to my room tears streaming down my face. I shut my door and locked it before collapsing on my bed. It felt as if my heart had been ripped out, stamped on, and slammed back into my chest. I hugged my pillow tight to my body as I relive the past few minutes. One of the worst parts of the whole scene was the look on Tobin’s face. I had never seen anyone in that much pain or that scared. When she had looked at me with desperation in her eyes after my mom told her we couldn’t be together anymore, I wanted nothing more but to hold her in my arms and tell her it would be ok. 

Tobin has gone through so much pain in her life, and I had just caused her more. I had never wanted to do that to her. I had to tell her that everything my mother said was wrong. I climbed out of bed and shoved shoes onto my feet. I snuck out my door and down the stairs as quietly as I could. I’m almost to the door when I hear a voice behind me.

“Alex?”

I spin around heart in my throat expecting to see my mother, but find Jacob there instead. 

“Hi Jacob.” I say as he walks over concern written across his face. 

“Alex what happened to Tobin? One minute she’s running up the stairs to see you and the next she’s walking out the door.” 

“ Jacob I can’t talk about this right now. I have to go find her.” I say spinning around to go out the door.

“ Wait! She told me to give this to you.” He says walking over to a small table where Tobin’s gift for me sat. I opened it gingerly and fresh tears start to run down my face at the sight of the box. I pulled it gently out and ran my hands along it feeling every curve and ridge. When my mother had looked at it she blocked it from my sight not allowing me to see anything. Tobin had carved a cherry blossom tree and it was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen. I look up at Jacob with tears in my eyes and he motions with his head to open the box. When I do I can’t help the sob that escapes from my lips when I see the necklace Tobin had bought me. I hold it up with my fingers and marvel at the beauty of it. My heart breaks even more at the thought of how much this must have cost. Tobin was meticulous with the money she earned. When I would go to the grocery store with her she had the cost of her trip planned down to a penny. Tobin was so careful with saving her money and she had spent so much on this necklace for me. 

“ She also told me to tell you that um she’s sorry that she couldn’t be enough for you.” Jacob said hesitantly 

“Oh my god I have to find her.” I whisper and turn to leave but Jacob puts a hand on my shoulder. 

“Alex she really loves you, don’t let her go.” He says looking sincerely at me. 

“Trust me I don’t plan on it.” I say walking out into the night.

The first place I check is back at the shop. In her room I see that her backpack is gone and her bike isn’t on the side of the shop. I head to the spot that she shared with me knowing she used that place when she needed to think. I run along the small pathway only to see that she wasn’t there. I’m getting desperate at this point as I hurriedly drive to Purple Haze. I rush inside and Hope looks at me perplexed with a towel and glass in her hand. At this point I’m completely dejected because I don’t know where else Tobin could be. 

I walk over to the bar and fall onto a stool. Hope disappears but is almost immediately back with a slice of her blueberry pie. I look at it and cant help but think of Tobin bringing me here for the first time. 

“Hey what’s wrong Alex?” Hope asks trying to get my attention. My eyes must be red and puffy from all the crying. I peer up at her and break down completely not caring about the other people in the bar. I tell Hope the entire story while she stands and listens carefully. 

“ And I can’t find her anywhere! I’ve looked everywhere she could possibly be and I just need to talk to her.” I say placing my head into my hands.

“Alex you may not see her for a couple of days.” Hope says slowly.

“ What do you mean?” I say looking up at her confused. 

“Well she’s only done this a couple of times so don’t freak out. But when something affects her strongly she disappears for a few days. And its not like we can contact her because she doesn’t own a phone! Kelley’s tried to ask where she goes but she wont tell anyone. So you’re just going to have to wait it out. “

“Hope I cant wait it out. I leave for Paris tomorrow!” I say desperately. 

“I’m sorry Alex but there’s nothing we can do.” She states sadly.

“I’m going to have to wait two weeks to explain to Tobin that I still love her no matter what?!

“I’m really sorry. If you want I can contact Kelley and Cheney?” She questions

“No it’s ok. I don’t want everyone knowing what happened before I can try and fix this.” 

“It’s your funeral if that little squirrel finds out you’ve been hiding this information from her for two weeks because you know Tobin’s not going to mention it.” She says raising an eyebrow. 

“I’ll deal with Kelley when I get back.” I glance down at my watch and realize that we’ll be leaving for the airport in a couple of hours and I hadn’t packed yet. 

“Hope if Tobin comes in here could you tell her I love her and I’ll fight to be with her no matter what?” I ask earnestly. 

“ Sure thing Alex.” She says nodding her head at me. 

I get up from my stool and slowly walk towards the exit not ready to face the next two weeks, which may be the longest of my life. 

 

\------------

 

I stretch my stiff legs as I wait for the plane to descend. The whole plane ride I have either been sleeping or ignoring everyone around me. To my anger, my mother had invited Servando and his family and he sat next to me on the plane. He tried starting up conversation with me at the beginning of the trip but after I ignored him for several minutes he gave up. I looked around the cabin and notice Servando looking at me. 

“Listen Alex I know you must hate me for what I did to Tobin but-“

“Servando I don’t want to hear it.”

“Look I didn’t know you were with her and when I found out at the party I just go angry.”

“Not that I care but why?”

“Because the last person she was with was very special to me. And I don’t know I-“

“Wait. Hold up a minute.” I say spinning around to glare at Servando. “You were that cruel to Tobin because you didn’t think she would ever be with someone after Maria?!” 

“You know about Maria?!”

“Yes Tobin told me everything about her.” I say watching him slam his head onto the headrest in front of him.

“I know you and Tobin are together but I also know your mom wants us together.”

“Seriously Servando?!”

“You know I’m not a total dick Alex.”

“Could have fooled me.” I mumble out. 

“You didn’t let me finish. I know she wants us together, but I wouldn’t do that to Tobin. “

“Why? You seem to really like making her feel like shit.” At this Servando sighs and leans his head back. 

“That party was a mistake I shouldn’t have done that to her. I wanted to talk to her but then some of my friends saw us and automatically started picking on her. What else was I supposed to do?”   
“Um I don’t know maybe stop your friends from throwing drinks on her and help her!” I whisper angrily getting mad at Servando as he tries to defend himself. 

“I was as shocked as you when that happened. Before I could do or say anything Kelley grabbed Tobin and walked away.” He says and I just glare at him remembering the night of that party.

 

“You have no reason to believe me and I get that.” He says looking at his hands before scratching the back of his neck nervously and I’m instantly reminded that Tobin does the same thing. “But I actually do care about Tobin we go far back and when I get back from Paris I want to apologize for all the shit I’ve done to her in the past few years.” 

My head snaps up and even though I don’t know Servando that well I can tell he’s being truly sincere. I sigh placing my head in my hands. “Well your going to have to find her first.” I mumble out. 

“What was that?” He said leaning forward. 

“I said your going to have to find her first.”

“What do you mean? She’s always at the shop.”

I’m quiet for a minute contemplating on whether or not to tell Servando the story. I glance up at him and decide to trust him. I spill the entire story to him getting chocked up at certain points and he hands me a couple of tissues while listening intently.

“And you have no idea where she is?”

“No! I looked everywhere she might have gone and I didn’t want to worry Kelley or Cheney but I knew she wouldn’t be at there houses.”

“I think I might know where she went.” Servando said quietly after a moment of silence.

“What?!”

“Yeah she’s done it a couple of times but she’s only told me once where she was at. Apparently she has a sister that’s like 10 years older than her that moved out when she was just a kid. She lives about 3 hours north and she lets Tobin stay with her when things get pretty rough because she knows what it was like growing up in that house.” Servando says staring out the window. 

“She never told me she had a sister.”  
“As far as I know I’m the only person maybe besides Abby that knows. I told you me and Tobin used to be really close.”

“Thanks for telling me Servando.” I say gratefully

“No problem. At least you know she’s safe now.” He says and I nod in agreement. We’re quiet for a few minutes and it’s the first time during the plane ride that it isn’t awkward. 

“Servando.”

“Yeah?”

“Your not a total dick.” I say which causes him to laugh. I cant help but smirk because his smile is almost, I repeat almost, as contagious as Tobin’s. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be as dreadful as I imagined.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters in 2 days holler!

Alex POV 

The first couple of days of being in Paris were relatively boring. My mother and father had a couple of meetings but nothing to major yet. There was a large dinner tomorrow night for one of the companies my dad was considering buying. I had spent most of my time wandering the streets looking at all of the small business and the scenery. On these walks I would think of Tobin and how I could fix everything when I got home. No matter what my mother said or did I still wanted to be with Tobin. She really is the best thing that has happened to me and I know that we had only been together for a short amount of time, but she meant the world to me. 

I’m sitting on a bench outside of an ice cream parlor when I look down at my phone and see that Kelley had texted me.

Kelley: Hey I know you’re in Paris and stuff but do you know where Tobin is? I can’t find her anywhere and it’s been 2 days. 

Me: Kelly can we talk about this when I get back?

Kelley: …Should I be worried?

Me: No don’t worry we can talk about it when I get back.

Kelley: Your being really cryptic… Is she ok?

Me: She’s safe if that’s what you’re asking.

Kelley: That’s not exactly reassuring but I guess I’ll have to wait for either you or Tobin to get back to tell me. 

I sigh staring at my phone feeling guilty for not telling Kelley about what happened between me and Tobin. Over the last 2 months I had grown to really love Kelley and all her ridiculousness. It was for the best that she didn’t know about it right now or she would be seriously freaking out. 

“Hey Alex.” I hear before I see Servando sit down next to me a 2 vanilla ice cream cones in his hand. He hands me one silently before starting to eat his. Servando has accompanied me on a few of the walks I take around the city and I’ve come to learn that he really isn’t that bad of a guy. He hasn’t tried to put any moves on me but is there just to be my friend. If he’s being honest about wanting to make amends with Tobin, I could see us having a good relationship in the future. 

“So I came up with the perfect plan to trick your mother.” He says while licking one side of his ice cream cone. 

“Oh and what would that be?” I ask amused as I start to eat my own ice cream. 

“We are going to act like we are falling madly in love.” He says wiggling his eyebrows and I laugh at how absurd he looks. 

“And how are we going to do that?” 

“Well at tomorrow nights dinner your going to walk in with me, you’ll have your arm on mine as I walk you in, and you will sit by me of your own choice instead of your mom thinking that she is forcing you to do it. And then we will laugh and joke all evening especially when she’s looking our way.” He says with flourish like it’s the most brilliant idea anyone has ever had. 

“Seems like you put a lot of thought into this.” I say raising an eyebrow. 

“Please. Don’t flatter yourself I have someone special at home.” He says chuckling. 

“Then why are you doing this?” I ask confused. 

“Lets just say my parents don’t always agree with who I like either.” He says before placing almost the entire ice cream cone in his mouth. 

“Wow Servando has a sensitive side. I’m shocked.” I joke trying to lighten the mood a bit. 

“Shut up.” He says through a mouthful of food but I can tell he’s joking. He wipes his hands together standing up and places his hand out towards me. “Come on lets go practice being madly in love in the city of love.” He says dramatically and I laugh at corny he can be. 

We’re on our way to the company dinner the following evening and I can already tell my mother is overcome with joy thinking that I had switched out Tobin for Servando. He sat next to me on the ride there and we conversed over light topics. Once we got there, he helped me out of the car so I wouldn’t step on or mess up my dress. It was a floor length thin strap red dress that draped over my body. Servando was wearing a black Armani suit that fit him perfectly. He even had a red handkerchief to match my dress. I had no interest to be with Servando whatsoever but I couldn’t help but admit that he was quiet the catch. Photographers snapped pictures around us no doubt hired by the company throwing the party to try and get some publicity out. To be honest I never really liked the photographers because they took pictures throughout the entire night. I always felt like someone was watching me and I couldn’t be anything but perfect. 

“And let the acting begin.” He whispers in my ear before taking my arm in his. 

The party took place at a very nice banquet hall that had a beautiful view of the garden outside. Throughout the dinner I got to know Servando more. I learned that he like me was a senior and played for the school’s soccer team. He had gotten scouted by Berkeley and said that he would most likely sign there. When dinner was over we snuck out so we wouldn’t have to listen to the boring business talk. As long as we entered and exited the dinner together we were fine to wander around. We were walking through the garden when he asked how Tobin and I met and I told him basically our entire story. When I tried to get him to talk about his girl he shyly looked at the ground smiling. 

“ I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it before anything happens.” 

“Come on you’ve gotta give me something! I just told you almost everything about me and Tobin.” I whined while pulling on his arm. He grinned a little more before caving. 

“Fine but you don’t get a name!” 

“I’ll take anything at this point!”

“She’s a surfer.” He says and I give him a pointed look to get him to continue spilling the facts. “Um she’s a really cool girl I think Tobin might know her actually. She goes to my high school and yours I guess. She makes me laugh more than I have with anyone else. She’s really tan and has brown hair but its blond because she’s in the ocean and sun so much. Um she is really pretty. Like out of this world gorgeous.” He says looking ahead. I lay my head on his shoulder and he lets out a big sigh. 

“How was it that 4 days ago I hated your guts?”

“You just couldn’t resist my charm.” He says snickering. 

“Uh no. I just didn’t realize you were a big softie.” I say poking his shoulder. 

“Come on lets go back our parents are probably wondering where we are.” He says before leading us back inside. We’re walking through the door when I spot my mom headed towards us. I put on a smile for her and I feel Servando move a little closer.

“Well there you two are! We were about to send a search party to find you.” She says laughing at her own joke.

“We just took a walk around the garden mom it was no big deal.” 

“We’re going back to the hotel now. Do you mind if I steal her Servando?” 

“Not at all Mrs. Morgan. Goodnight Alex.” He says before kissing my cheek and sending me a side wink strolling off. 

“I just happened to notice you and Servando got along very well tonight.” She said while pulling me along towards the car. 

“Yeah he’s a nice guy.” I say honestly

“Now honey I told you that you two would be a great match. You’ve probably forgotten all about that girl Todin.”

“Tobin.” I say through gritted teeth.

“Whatever her name is it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Yeah.” I say clenching my jaw to keep back the emotions that are flooding through me right now. This whole acting thing may be harder than I expected. 

 

Over the next few days or so Servando and I keep up the charade and both of our mothers don’t have a clue. I actually enjoy Servando’s company he makes me laugh and I forget how miserable it is to be here without Tobin beside me. Every night though when I crawl into bed it hits me right in my chest that the girl I love thinks I don’t want to be with her. All I want is to have her here with me so I can wrap my arms around her and fall asleep to the beat of her heart. I’m eating breakfast alone in my hotel room when my phone starts ringing. I glance at and see that Kelley is calling me. I’m slightly confused because it’s 2 am back home. 

“Hello?”

“Alex?”

“Kelley why are you calling? Its like 2 am over there.” 

“What the hell did you do to Tobin?!”

“What? Why? What’s wrong with her?” I say standing and dread instantly filling my body. 

“Um I don’t know. Maybe that this is the first time I’ve seen her in 5 days and then I get a call from Hope saying that I needed to come pick up Tobin from Purple Haze!” 

“She’s been gone for 5 days?”

“Yes! And she’s drunk off her ass! So what the fuck happened that caused Tobin who has sworn off all alcohol and drugs to disappear for 5 days and the first thing she does when she gets back is get shit faced?!”

“Oh my god.” I whisper into the phone as I fall onto the bed guilt washing through me. 

“Yeah oh my god! Now Alex tell me what happened so I can do damage control or I swear I will be on the next plane to Paris to kick your skinny ass so you can tell me what is going on.”

“Kelley I didn’t mean to hurt I really didn’t. I couldn’t stop it it just happened. I was going to fix it when I got home I had no choice I couldn’t find her anywhere before I left.” I ramble on while starting to cry uncontrollably.

“Alex please tell me what’s happening.” Kelley pleads and she doesn’t sound angry anymore she sounds desperate. For the third time I confess everything that happened the night of my birthday. By the time I finish Kelley is so silent on the other line I thought she might have hung up.

“Kelley.”

“Kelley.”

“Your mom’s a bitch.”

“Trust me I know. Kelley you have to believe me. I tried to stop my mom. I tried to find her afterwards. I just-“

“Alex calm down I believe you its just a shitty situation.” She said sighing on the other end. 

“I’m coming home. I’m going to make up some crazy excuse. I’ll be back in less then 18 hours.” I say as I start to pull out my laptop to change my plane tickets.

“Alex you don’t have to do that.”

“Kelley. I’m coming home.” I say in a voice that says its not worth arguing with me. 

“Ok Alex be safe.”

I hung up on Kelley before immediately calling someone else.

“Hello?”

“I need your help.”

 

\-------------

“Are you sure you two want to leave early?” my mother asks as Servando and I are gathering our luggage from the taxi.

“If it’s alright with you Mrs. Morgan I’d like to take Alex to Los Angeles for a few days.” Servando says smoothly. Wow I thought to myself. He sure knows how to charm people.

“Of course its fine with me! As long as its ok with your parents.”

“I think my mom is as pleased as you.” He says winking at her before placing his arm around my waist. 

“Alrighty then! Well Alex just text me when you two land! Have a fabulous time!” She says waving at us before climbing back into the taxi and driving off. I let out a huff of air before turning to Servando. 

“Thanks for this Servando it means a lot to me.” I say as we start to make our way towards security.

“I don’t mind helping fix your love life.” He chuckles. “Plus this means I get to see my girl sooner too.”

“Well we’ve got a non stop flight that’ll get us there in 12 hours so I hope you have some good stories.” I say bumping his shoulder with mine. 

“I can think of a couple good ones.” He says smiling. 

I smile nervously back thinking every step we took brought me closer to the girl I loved and who I could only hope still loved me.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a huge fan of this chapter but it needed to be done. Hopefully the next chapter is better!

Tobin’s POV 

2 Days ago

After the whole scene at Alex’s place I had grabbed my bag, stuffed a few clothes into it, and had taken off on my bike. I had left a note for Abby saying I’m sorry but I would be gone for a few days. I drove up to my sisters strawberry farm knowing she would be there and let me stay for a few days. When I arrived at 3 am Perry didn’t ask any questions she just led me to the spare bedroom. I passed out from exhaustion and didn’t wake up until almost noon the next day. I met Perry out on the porch and explained everything that happened and she said I was welcome to stay for as long as I liked.

I’ve been here for three days now and although it’s peaceful I can’t stop thinking of Alex. I walk towards the hill with the lone oak tree and lean against it staring out at the fields below me. I sit there for a while whittling away at a stick until I hear Perry walk up and stand next to me. 

“I forget how beautiful it is out here.” I say as I look at the sloping strawberry hills while inhaling the heavenly scent. “I wish Alex was here to see it.”

“I guess that’s how you know you love someone. When you can’t experience something without wishing the other person is here to see it too.” Perry said plopping down next to me. 

“I already know that I love her Perry. I just don’t know if I’m good enough for her.” I say drawing shapes in the dirt. 

“Seriously Tobin.”

“What?”

“You are the most kind loving and forgiving person I know. It’s a damn miracle your spirit wasn’t broken from the environment we had to grow up in. From what you’ve told me, it doesn’t sound like this situation was her choice. Plus I can tell she’s head over heels for you.” Perry says matter of factley 

“And how could you know that? You’ve never even met her.” I say chuckling at her. 

“From the way you told the story. I can just feel it I’m like the love guru of the west coast.”

“I also forget how ridiculous you are.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. But seriously Tobin you can’t give up just like that. Who gives a damn what her mother thinks? She doesn’t know you like other people do. Anyone that knows you would say your more than good enough for Alex. You just gotta believe.” She says simply.

“Thanks Perry.”

“Anytime little sis.” 

“I think I’m going to go back tomorrow.”

“As sad as I am to see you go, I’m glad your good enough to head back.”

“I know I need to come visit more.”

“Yeah you do you jerk! Do you want your baby nephew to have one of those aunts that are never around and then its awkward at holidays??”

“No!” I say laughing. “And I need to teach him how to skateboard and surf because you never will duh.”

“Oh dear lord I can already see the future is full of scrapes and broken bones.” She says teasingly while bumping her shoulder with mine. We laugh and sit in comfortable silence for a little longer before heading back down to the house. I end up staying for another day and leave after lunch. Perry walks me out to my bike and we hug while I promise that I’ll visit more and that I might bring Alex back next time. 

I get home and find Abby sitting on the swinging bench outside the shop. I park my bike and hesitantly make my way over and sit next to her. She doesn’t say anything but just looks at me and I know I had better start explaining. I tell her everything and she puts an arm around me pulling me into her shoulder. 

“Alex isn’t stupid kid. Just wait for her to get back.” She says and that’s her only response to my whole story. Even though it’s short I know that Abby cares how I feel and knew this incidence had really torn me up. We stay like that until I notice the sun is starting to set. 

“I have to get some groceries do you need anything while I’m there?” I ask while standing and stretching my arms. 

“Nah I’m good kid.” She says and stands going into the shop before turning around. “Hey you might want to check on Kelley she’s kinda freaking out that you’ve been gone for 5 days.” 

I scratch the back of my neck knowing I should have at least left a note or something for her so she didn’t freak. “Yeah I know, I’ll talk to her.” 

I go to the grocery store to get some food items that I would be needing for dinner that night. I’m in the produce section looking at tomatoes when I feel an arm go around my neck. I turn and find myself face to face with Pinoe. 

“Where the hell have you been chickadee?” She says and I spot Syd behind her with her head in her phone.

“Oh I’ve been pretty busy you know.” I lie not wanting to explain everything in the middle of the produce section.

“You haven’t missed much. Everyone’s getting ready for school. Gosh you are so lucky you are done! I would give up my Mia Hamm signed jersey to not have to finish this last year!” She says dramatically and I just laugh at her. 

I had worked really hard to graduate early. I took extra credit whenever it was offered, dual enrollment classes, and even classes that were offered in the summer. By the end of my junior year I was able to graduate early. 

“Oh my god.” Syd whispers staring at her phone.

“What?” Pinoe asks before walking around Sydney’s back to see what she’s looking at. When she see’s what’s on the screen her jaw drops. 

“What is it?” I ask curious now. 

“Nothing.” They both say at the same time. 

“Come on guys show me.”

“Nope.” Pinoe says trying to push me away from Sydney. 

“Sydney show me right now or I will hide your collection of nail polish.” 

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“I would now show me what you guys are so shocked by!” 

Sydney and Pinoe exchange a worried glance before slowly handing the phone over to me. As soon as I see what’s on the screen my heart starts to beat a little faster and my stomach drops to the floor. There were several pictures of Alex at a fancy party in Paris, but she wasn’t alone. Servando was with her either with his arm around her or always near him. I scroll to the bottom and that’s when my heart stops. There is a picture of Servando kissing Alex’s check with her mother smiling in the background. 

Besides a deep inhale of breath to steady myself I don’t show any emotion on the outside. Syd and Pinoe were looking at me as if I was going to spontaneously combust. 

“You ok Tobs?”

“Yeah its fine. We broke up before Paris anyways.” I mutter out while internally I am freaking out. I thought she would maybe want me. That it wasn’t her choice to leave me. I start reprimanding myself for having delusional thoughts. I look at the basket of food in my hand and realize I’m not hungry anymore. I set it down and walk away dazed. Syd and Pinoe don’t try to follow me knowing that I would want some alone time, which I much appreciated. 

I get on my bike and head to the one spot in town that always makes me feel better. I didn’t care that it was already nighttime by the time I got to the pathway. I knew it by heart and didn’t need light to know where I was going. When I got to the outlook I plopped down and just stared out at the ocean as it crashed into the shore. 

I let the tears run down my face not caring anymore. I hadn’t loved someone like I had loved Alex in a long time. Sure I love Kelley and Cheney and the rest of the girls but Alex was different. She completes me. There’s no other way to say it. Without her I have this huge gaping hole in my chest and the pain wont go away. I don’t know how long I sit there for, but once I feel the pitter-patter of raindrops I stand and stretch my stiff legs. I hurry back to my bike and ride into town with one destination in mind. 

I walk into Purple Haze and sit down at the stool I always occupy. When Hope sees me she hurries over with a worried look on her face. I hold my palm out stopping her from the questions she was about to bombard me with. 

“Hope I will answer any questions you have but please can I have a drink first.” 

I watch Hope’s eyes go wide before letting out a sigh.

“What do you want?” She asks while placing a glass on the bar. 

“Something that will make me numb.” I say and she nods her head before pulling out a bottle of tequila, some salt, and a lime. 

“Tequila is good when you have salt and lime and it wont give you a killer headache in the morning.” She says before pouring me a shot. Even though I had never taken one, I knew all of the steps because I had watched my friends countless times. I licked my wrist and placed the salt on it. I licked the salt away and tip back the shot glass letting the tequila slip down my throat and hurriedly grab the lime to replace the bitter taste in my mouth. I set down the glass and motion for Hope to fill it again and she does. I take it and like the way it burns through my chest as it goes down. I motion for another and Hope looks at me skeptically. 

“Please Hope.” I beg and she sighs giving me another. 

“Ok your done for now you can have more in a little bit.” She says placing the bottle down. “Now Tobin you don’t have to relive through the whole story because I already know it.” My head snapped up when I heard that. 

“How?”

“Alex came barging in here the night you took off. She had been searching the whole town for you and couldn’t find you anywhere. When she came in here she looked almost as pathetic as you do. She told me the whole story and she also told me to tell you something.” 

“What?” I ask through a clenched jaw. Hope placed a hand on mine before continuing on. 

“She said that she loves you and she will fight for you no matter what.”

I let out a sarcastic chuckle and cant help the tears that come to my eyes. ”Yeah well I’m pretty sure she’s not fighting anymore.” I say clearing my throat. 

“Why do you say that?”

“I don’t maybe today I saw pictures of her and Servando together in Paris and they didn’t exactly look distant.” I say staring at my hands. 

“Tobin just wait for her to get back. Do you want to lose her?”

“No! She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me why would I want to lose her?!”

“Then you’re going to have to wait for her to get back so you two can talk this out. I’m sure it’s all a big misunderstanding. I’ve seen the way she looks at you Tobin there’s no way you can fall out of love that fast.”

I don’t respond to her statement but reach over and grab the bottle of tequila pouring myself another shot. I take it quickly before pouring another. Hope grabs my hand to stop me but I take it with my other hand. Having never drank before I could feel the affects of the alcohol in my system. I kept taking shots when Hope had her back turned to help some of her customers. For the next hour or so I continue to consume more drinks until I can hardly think straight. The next thing I know I find Kelley next to me trying to get me to stand.

“Whatcha doin here Kel?”

“Come on Tobs lets get you home.” She says tugging on my arm. At the pull of my arm I tumble off of my stool but Kelley catches me.

“What’s the point Kelley? I’ll be sleeping alone anyways.” I slur trying to regain my balance. 

“Its ok Tobs I’m staying with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to.” She says as she leads me out towards her car. She helps me climb into the car where I lean my head against the cool window. 

"I feel like my heart is broken." I whisper out. 

"I know honey I know." Kelley says rubbing my back gently. She starts driving and soon we’re back at the shop. I get out and start walking towards the balcony. It takes me a little while longer then usual to climb up because I kept missing the steps. Kelley stayed under me the whole time just in case I fell. Once I get to my bedroom I collapse into bed not even bothering to change clothes, but I do have enough of a brain to kick off my shoes before getting under the covers. I hear Kelley banging around my room but don’t try to investigate. My eyes are starting to close of their own accord and the last thing I remember is how this is the first time in a week that I’ve actually gone to sleep easily.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its 2 am. Why am I up?

I wake up and instantly close my eyes to block out the sun seeping in through my glass sliding doors. I feel like I got hit by a bus and someone took a bat to my head. I roll over and place a pillow over my head trying to stop my head from pounding. After a few minutes of lying there with my head throbbing I sit up. I groan at the sensation coursing through my body. I start to feel sick and run to the bathroom before puking my guts up. I hear footsteps and feel someone hold my hair back as I throw up into the toilet. 

When it’s finally over I lean back and Kelley hands me a glass of water. I stand slowly while sipping on the glass of water. I’m weak and shaky but in general I feel way better then before. 

“Christ Kelley why the hell do you guys ever drink?” I ask wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. 

“Well 1 we usually don’t drink ourselves into oblivion like you did last night. And 2 I can promise you its a lot more fun when you're in a good mood and have your friends with you.” She says patting my back. I groan and make my way over to the sink to brush my teeth. 

“Geeze I rink. I smell like my dad always did.” I say with disgust. 

“Alright you take a shower and I’m going to get some much needed breakfast and coffee.” Kelley says walking out the door.

I take a shower scrubbing every inch of my body trying to rid it of the stench of alcohol. I get out and towel dry my hair prior to getting dressed. Kelley isn’t back yet so I strip my bed of its sheets and grab the clothes I wore last night. I go downstairs into the back of the storage area and load my sheets and clothes into the washer that’s there. By the time I have that done I hear Kelley banging around the kitchen making coffee. I make my way over to her and grab one of the donuts she picked up promptly stuff half of it into my mouth. 

“Oh my god this is so good.” I mumble through a mouthful of food. 

“Fried dough is like ambrosia for hangovers.” Kelley says laughing. 

“Hey Kel thanks for last night. I wasn’t in the right state of mind and I-“

“Its ok Tobs I get it.”

“You do?” 

“Yeah I know everything.” She says while pulling milk out of the fridge. I’m confused for a second until I realize she must have called Alex when she didn’t know where I was.  
“Hey I’m sorry I should have left you a note or something.”

“No its ok you wanted to get out of here I totally understand that.” Kelley says flicking her hand in the air. 

“Seriously thanks Kel. I don’t know what I would do without you.” I say sincerely. 

“Ditto Tobs.” She says ruffling my wet hair. 

We spend the rest of the day joking around. To her credit Kelley never asks about Alex once, but I can tell she’s trying to keep me busy. When we finished doing something she almost immediately suggested we go do something else. I was cool with this because I really didn’t want to sit around thinking about Alex and what was going to happen when she got back. Kelley leaves after dinner with the promise that she’ll be back with snacks and her laptop so we could watch movies all night. I decide to get a little bit of carving done while I wait for her to get back. 

I’m in my study carving some final details on the hammerhead shark I’ve been working on when I hear the sliding glass door open. Thinking it’s Kelley I don’t turn around but wait for her to come barreling in with snacks for our movie night. 

“Toby?”

I freeze when I hear that raspy voice and slowly spin around with my heart beating a million miles an hour. There standing in front of me was the love of my life that also had managed to break my heart. 

“Alex.” I manage to choke out past the lump in my throat. The next thing I know Alex has her arms wrapped tightly around me and has her face in my neck. I can’t control my arms as they snake their way around her waist and hug her back. She leans back and kisses me slowly. It takes everything in me not to reciprocate the kiss knowing if I did I would become too lost in it. She pulls back once she realizes that I wasn’t kissing her back and looks at me in confusion.

“Tobin what’s wrong?”

“Your back a week early.”

“I came back because Kelley called me last night saying you disappeared for 5 days and then you got completely wasted. And all you have to say is that I’m back a week early?” She says shaking her head. I scoff at the knowledge that Kelley had ratted me out. 

“I thought I would have more time to prepare myself.” I say standing up and walking into my room.

“What do you mean prepare yourself?” She asks following me into the room. 

“I mean I thought I would have more time to prepare myself to somehow confront you on the pictures of you and Servando in Paris.” I state stony faced. 

“What are you talking about?!”

“The pictures! The pictures of you two together! The pictures of you by his side all night! Where he has an arm around your waist! The fucking picture of him kissing your cheek! Those damn pictures!” I shout angrily. I’ve had such an emotional rollercoaster over the last few days I cant help but take my anger out on Alex. 

“Oh my god.” She says looking at me blankly.

“Yeah so you can save me the pity speech alright. I get it you’ve moved on-“

“No! No Tobin! You don’t understand-“

“Oh I understand perfectly Alex. I may be poor but I’m not stupid.” I say walking past her to grab my backpack. I didn’t want to stay here any longer and I didn’t have the heart to kick Alex out. 

“No Tobin it was all fake!” She can tell that I’m trying to leave in a hurry so she stands in front of me and grabs my face with both of her hands. “It was fake all of it. You have to believe me Tobin! She says desperately.

I look into her eyes and can tell that she’s being serious. I sigh and she see’s a moment of weakness in the walls I had built around myself. “Servando and I wanted to trick both of our mothers that we were interested in each other. I made it clear that I wasn’t actually interested in him and he felt the same way. Tobin all of those pictures are fake. All I wanted when I was there was to come back because your home to me.” She says searching my eyes that I believed her story. 

“Why would Servando want to help you and me?” 

“He says he’s really sorry for acting like a total dick towards you for the last couple of years and he wanted to make it up to you. He’s sorry and wants to maybe be friends with you again. Oh and he says he’s got a girl that his parents don’t really approve of either. So it was a win win situation.” She says quickly.

I start to feel guilt bubble in my stomach for having accused Alex of cheating on me. I had jumped to conclusions without even asking Alex about the situation. Damn, I thought to myself, I really need to get a phone. 

“Alex I’m sorry I-“

“It’s ok Tobin I get it I probably would have jumped to conclusions to.” She says rubbing my arm with her hand. I take one of her hands in mine and start playing with it.

“So where does this leave us?” I ask quietly.

“Well me and Servando talked about it on the plane ride back. He and I will have lunch once a week in a spot where people like my mother or his will see us, like the country club or something. I’ll say I’m going out to see him but really I’m going to see this amazing girl.” She says swinging our hands and a small smile creeps onto my face for a moment. 

“What if your mom finds out your faking it?” I say staring at our intertwined hands.

“We’ll get to that if it ever happens.” She says simply.

“You deserve better than me. You shouldn’t have to fake a relationship to be with me.” I say trying to give her a chance to leave because if she didn’t take it I would never let go. 

“Don’t you get it? I choose you over anyone else; I’ll always choose you. I don’t care if the world thinks I deserve better I want you damn it! I want you in every way there is to want a person!” Alex says before closing the distance between us and kissing me passionately. This time I respond back kissing her with just as much passion and need. She brings her hands into my hair and pulls me until our bodies our connected. 

“I have never missed anyone as much as I missed you.” I mumble out between kisses.

“I love you and I think that you are the most perfect person in this whole world. And you really are important to me and you…you. All I can think about is you. You’ve managed to make me feel things I’ve never felt before. No one else has ever been able to do that to me. I love you. I am in love with you. I love you, I really really do.” She says against my lips and all the fear I had of her not loving me back is washed away with her confession. I pull back and gaze at her placing a hand delicately on her face.

“You are the best thing in my life you know that right? I knew I was going to fall for you the moment you grabbed my hand so I could help you up. I can’t stop myself from loving you or thinking about you. You are the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of before I go to sleep. I know that’s terribly cliché and cheesy but its completely true. I cant give you a whole lot with what I have but you have this entire heart.” I say placing her hand over my racing heart. “You have all the love I can give. You have my word that I am yours and no one else’s.” I promise before leaning in and sealing it with a kiss. 

Alex squeezes her arms tighter around my neck and kisses me slowly back before becoming more urgent. I let my hands travel down to the back of her thighs, picking her up and walking towards the bed. She wraps her legs around my waist and showers my face with kisses. I lay her gently down on the bed and place both hands on either side of her head just staring at her.

“What?” She asks smiling. 

“Your just so beautiful.” I say grinning back as I stare into the eyes that I swear are bluer than the ocean. I lay my head against her chest for a minute before rolling over bringing her to lie on top of me. I close my eyes and hold Alex close to me relishing in the feeling of having her next to me again. 

“Out of everywhere I’ve been in the world, my favorite place is in your arms.” I hear Alex whisper against my neck and I turn my head to kiss her forehead. 

“I love you Alexandra Patricia Morgan.” I whisper and I tighten my arms around her bringing her impossibly closer to me, thinking that nothing could be more perfect than the girl I loved laying beside me.


	19. Chapter 19

Alex’s POV

I wake up feeling better then I have in days. I nuzzle into Tobin’s neck further and place small kisses there. Tobin must have already been awake because the moment I cuddle closer to her she tightens her arms around me and pulls me on top of her. I kiss up her neck and along her jaw and lean back when I feel Tobin’s lips lifting in a smile. She’s got the goofiest grin on her face and I cants help but smile back at her. We lay there smiling at each other before I close the distance between us bringing her lips to mine. I increase the pressure of my kiss and she sighs threading her hands through my hair holding me close. I start to get worked up and begin to tear at her shirt.

“Mm babe we cant.” She says against my lips holding my hands in place. 

“Why not?” I whine trying to lift her shirt again but she stops me. 

“I was supposed to be downstairs stocking shelves 5 minutes ago.” She says leaning back trying to create space between us. 

“I really don’t like you right now.” I groan pulling back to sit on Tobin’s lap.

“No you don’t.” She says smiling sitting up rubbing my waist. “You love me.” Kissing me in between each word and remove Alex from my lap and standing. 

“Tonight though, tonight I’m going to make you feel more loved than you ever have.” She whispers into my ear before winking at me and gets dressed. I watch her with my jaw dropped not believing she had said that. 

“You are such a tease!” I say climbing out of bed slapping her butt as I walk into the bathroom and I can hear her laughing at me.

By the time we get downstairs Tobin has to rush to get all the shelves stocked before the shop opens up. I decided to stay the day with her because I really didn’t want to be apart from her when I had only just gotten back. Throughout the day she sends me winks and sly touches whenever she passes me. I’m slowly going insane from all of her little touches and I can tell she knows it by the smirk on her face. 

A little while into Tobin’s shift all of the girls come into the shop. No one knew what happened between Tobin and I except Tobin and we planned on keeping it that way for a while. Kelley gave me a blinding smile when she saw me sitting behind Tobin knowing that last night went well. I had arrived at the shop when Kelley had gotten there with her movie stuff. We talked for a few minutes before she finally encouraged me enough to go and see Tobin. The other girls are oblivious to our exchange and continue talking amongst themselves. 

“Hey we came by to ask you guys if you wanted to do a cook out on the beach tonight?” Ashlyn ask while looking at the new surf gear that came in.

“Yeah we haven’t had one in forever, and we wanted to do one since school starts next week.” Ali said climbing up onto the counter next to me. 

Tobin turns around with a hesitant smile on her face and I nod my head excitedly. She breaks out into a full out grin and tells the girls that we’re both in. The girls finalize the plans and head out to go get all of the necessities for tonight. Tobin has about 30 more minutes until she closes up shop when a girl walks in. Tobin sees her and smiles before hopping over the counter to give her a hug. 

“What’s up Brianna? I haven’t seen you in forever!” Tobin says holding her out by her shoulders to inspect her. 

“Hey Tobs! I got an offer to surf in Hawaii with Billabong for the summer for basically free so I couldn’t turn that down.” She says shrugging and smiling 

“Are you serious? Dude that’s amazing! How awesome were the waves?!” Tobin asks giddily. 

I tune out as they start with all the surfing talk. I notice the girl is really tan and has brown hair but a lot of it is blonde, she also looks around our age. She’s got that chill beach vibe like Tobin and I like her instantly when she makes Tobin laugh loudly. I start to connect the dots in my head and realize that this may be the girl that Servando had been talking about. I sneakily take a picture of her while she and Tobin are talking animatedly. I send it to Servando asking him if this was the girl he was talking to. I only have to wait about 30 seconds before he replied back. 

Serv: She’s back in town?!

Alex: So it is her!

Serv: yeah that’s her but she wasn’t supposed to get back from Hawaii until tomorrow!

Serv: Wait how did you know that was her??

Serv: Did she say something about me??

Alex: Chill Servando! I just took a guess because of her appearance and her knowing Tobin. And no she hasn’t said anything but I have an idea!

Serv: What is it…?

Alex: Hold on give me a few minutes. 

“Hey Alex.” I hear Tobin call out motioning for me to come meet Brianna. “This is Brianna Cope, aka one of the best surfers on the west coast and an old friend. Bri this Alex my wonderful girlfriend” She says grinning at me. 

“It’s nice to meet you Alex. I’m glad this dork finally settled down.” She says hooking her arm around Tobin’s neck.

“Your one to talk! You’ve been single longer than me!” Tobin says jokingly pushing her but I see a small blush rise on Brianna’s cheeks. 

“Hey Brianna if your not busy tonight we and some of our friends are having a cookout on the beach. Would you like to come? I’d like to hear some embarrassing stories about Toby when she was younger.” I say teasingly. 

“How can I turn down the opportunity to embarrass Tobin” She says and Tobin’s grinning at the two of us like an idiot. Tobin and Brianna talk for a little longer catching up before she leaves waving and promising that she’ll be there. 

Alex: Part 1 of 2 complete!

Serv: What are you doing??

Alex: Ok I need you to come by the shop

Serv: … and talk to Tobin?

Alex: Yep!

Serv: I guess I was going to have to do it eventually. I’ll be there in 10 minutes. 

I grin at my phone thinking that my plan is going smoothly so far. I fidget for the next few minutes while waiting for Servando to get here. Tobin is in the back getting some more sunscreen when Servando walks through the door. I put my finger over my lips telling Servando to be quiet and Tobin shouts out that she would be there in a second. Tobin walks in with a box but drops it when she sees that Servando was here. He has his hands in his pockets and looks at Tobin nervously. 

“Hey Tobin. Could we uh talk?” He hesitantly asks.

Tobin’s jaw moves up and down with no sound coming out for a few seconds before clearing her throat and speaking. “Yeah um lets go out on the deck.” She says leading him outside to the swinging bench. I wait in the shop patiently and after about 30 minutes they both come in with small smiles on their faces. I smile brightly at them and Servando sends me a wink. 

“So Serv there’s this cookout tonight that we’re going to on the beach. You want to join?” I ask innocently. 

“Um sure that sounds good I need to make up for lost time.” He says looking at Tobin. She just grins and nods her head. Servando gives Tobin and I a hug before heading out. Tobin turns around smirking at me putting her hands on either side of my waist and leaning in until there was only a couple of inches between us.

“What did I do to deserve you?” 

“What do you mean?” I ask confused.

“Your slowly pulling my life back together.” She says gently laying one of her hands against my check and pulling me in for a brief kiss. 

We arrive at the beach later as the sun is starting to set. The gang is already there, everything is set up, and they are just starting to cook. Tobin gives me a kiss on the head before walking off with our burgers to stand by the grill with and Ashlyn. I sit in between Kelley and Ali and listen to them as they talk about what they want to do for senior year. 

About ten minutes later Servando shows up and I’m the first one to notice him. I try not to laugh at him. He looks so nervous he’s about to puke. He had texted me earlier saying how nervous he was to hang out with Tobin’s friends knowing they hated him for what he had done to Tobin. I convinced him that if Tobin forgave him so would the other girls. Plus this was the first chance to prove to Tobin that he was serious about fixing their relationship. 

“What the fuck is he doing here.” I hear Kelley grumble next to me. Before I can do anything to defend Servando, Tobin starts walking towards him and gives him a hug surprising all of the girls. I look around and most of the girl’s jaws are dropped. Tobin steers Servando to the group with her arm around his neck. 

“Guys Servando is going to hang out with us tonight.” Tobin says. Kelley is about to speak, probably something rude, when Tobin holds up her hand to stop her. “I know what your thinking but everything is cool. Me and Serv talked and what’s happened is in the past and we need to move on from it. So if you could, please drop any attitude you have towards him.” She says patting his back and going back to the grill. It’s quiet for a few seconds but then Lauren stands and gives Servando a big hug. He gratefully accepts it and returns the hug back. None of the other girls give him a hug but almost all of them, except Kelley, give him a nod or a small smile. 

Servando comes and sits by me letting out a large sigh. I laugh at him patting his knee and pulling him into a conversation with Ali and Cheney. Over the next few minutes I can physically see Servando relax as the girls slowly start talking to him. 

“Hey guys sorry I’m late!” A voice shouts out as they jog up to the group. 

“Is that you Bri?!” Kelley screams before running and jumping onto her. Brianna laughs and catches her stumbling a bit. The rest of the girls get up to greet Brianna and after a few minutes she goes over to stand next to Tobin at the grill. 

I can feel Servando perk up next to me and I smirk at him elbowing his arm. He stands and makes his way over towards them. I can see Brianna’s smile grow wider when she sees him approaching them. They hug each other and he keeps his hand on the small of her back. In my head I’m jumping up and down ecstatic that my plan worked. I skip over to Tobin with a big grin on my face and wrap my arm around her and place my head on her shoulder. She turns around and puts her mouth next to my ear. “Thank you.” She whispers. I give her a small peck and grab our cooked hamburgers and sit on the logs around the campfire pleased at the way the evening had gone so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys still not like Servando??


	20. Chapter 20

Alex’s POV

 

The party is winding down and I notice that Servando and Brianna had walked off down the beach hand in hand. Kelley and Sydney are arguing across the fire from each other which was the better animal, a squirrel or a chihuahua. 

“You know Kelley brings up a valid point when she says that squirrels can fly.” Cheney says nonchalantly.

“Squirrels don’t fly! They glide!” Syd argues. 

Tobin laughs at her friends before wrapping her arms around my waist pulling me into her lap. I place my arms around her neck and listen to our friend’s conversation. Tobin gently massages my thigh and starts to kiss my neck slowly. I don’t stop her because we were on the darkest side of the fire. Tobin kisses up my neck to my ear and bites it. 

“I want you.” She whispers in my ear. At this I stand abruptly and pull Tobin up with me. 

“Alright guys we’re headed out. See ya later!” I hurriedly say grabbing Tobin’s hand and walking away. 

I can hear Tobin chuckling behind me as the girls call out goodbyes at our sudden departure. The whole walk back Tobin keeps her hands on me and it’s starting to drive me insane. Once we get to the shop I hurry up the stairs and Tobin is following closely behind me. I turn around when we are in her room and stop when I see the look of hunger and lust in Tobin’s eyes. I’ve never seen that kind of intensity from her and it makes me feel like my legs are made of jello.

Tobin picks me up and my legs automatically wrap around her waist. She sits on the edge of the bed and kisses me passionately while I straddle her lap. I’m craving more contact and move to pull off my shirt when Tobin’s hands stop me. 

“No. You’re not doing anything tonight.” She says as she slowly peels off my shirt and tosses it away from the bed. “Tonight is all about you.” She mumbles placing kisses on my stomach. 

Tobin’s hands travel up my back and carefully unhooks my bra. She reaches up and brings me closer to connect our lips. Every time I try to intensify the kiss, Tobin slows it down while caressing my breast. Tobin is killing me with the pace she’s going at so I try to redirect her hands to my shorts hoping she would get the idea. 

“Uh-uh-uh.” Tobin says against my neck. “ I thought I lost you for forever, I’m taking my time tonight.”

I lean my head back groaning in exaggeration and Tobin chuckles before kissing my pulse point. Tobin lowers her head and takes one of breast into her mouth and I groan for an entirely different reason. She teases me by lightly biting my nipple and soothing it with her tongue and then moves to my other breast. 

Tobin switches our positions by slowly laying me down on the bed and she quickly takes off her own shirt. She places a leg in between mine and presses into me enticing a moan out of me. I take off Tobin’s bra before she can stop me and she laughs at my impatience and she leans back hovering over me. My heart constricts when I see her face is full of love as she gazes over my body. Starting at my calves she kisses her way up my legs and when she reaches my inner thigh she gives it a small nip. My hips buck at the sensation that courses through my hyper aware body from that one action. 

“Toby please.” I plead not able to take her teasing anymore. She runs her tongue along my hipbones while deliberately taking off my shorts at a snail’s pace. She finally takes them off and the only thing left on me are my cheeksters. She makes her way up to me and kisses me passionately before cupping my center with one of her hands. I moan at the feel of her on me and tangle my hands in her hair kissing her urgently back. She starts rubbing small circles on the outside of my underwear and I try to take off her shorts wanting to feel her body on mine. Sensing my urgency, she quickly strips off her shorts and underwear and returns back to teasing me. 

She hooks one of her fingers in my underwear and pulls them down agonizingly slow and kisses the skin that’s revealed under it. Once she has them completely off of me she slips one of her fingers into my folds and groans out how turned on I am. 

“Baby you’re so wet.” She breathes against my ear. 

“I want to feel you inside of me.” I beg. 

With that statement Tobin tenderly inserts a finger inside of me and my head falls back against the pillow as she slowly pumps in and out. My hips rise up to meet her hand, my body begging her to give it more. She adds another finger and moves them in and out at a faster pace while kissing my neck. She torments me by working me up to the point where I almost reach orgasm and then stops by pulling her fingers out and gently massaging me. She does this only for a few minutes and I seriously don’t think I can take it any longer

“You’re killing me Tobin.”

“What do you want baby?” 

“More. Please.”

“You have to say what you want Lex.”

“I want you to make me cum Toby!”

“I think I can make that happen.” She says cheekily and I can feel her smirking as she kisses my lips drawing my tongue out to intertwine with hers. 

She reenters me and increasingly picks up the pace while rubbing my clit with her thumb. It only takes a few seconds before I feel the trembling inside me start up. Tobin can feel me start to clench so she adds another finger and curls them. I fall apart in the arms of the girl I love as wave after wave of pleasure washes through me. Tobin doesn’t stop moving however and keeps up the pace as I feel a second orgasm start to rip through me.

“Oh my god Tobin!” I shout out.

When the shaking has finally subsided Tobin pulls her fingers gently out of me and collapses next to me on the bed. I lay my head on her chest and listen to her pounding heart eventually slow down and her breathing returning to normal. 

“Wow.” I say once I’ve regained my breath. 

“Wow indeed.” She responds back.

We lay there enjoying each other’s warmth and presence as I run my hands over her stomach. My hands come across a bump and I tilt my head up to inspect it. I see its one of her many scars that litter her body and I lean back to make eye contact with her. 

“What happened when you got this scar?” I ask.

“That one was from a couple of years ago. My dad had just lost a lot of money at the casino and came home drunk and angry, never a good mix. I didn’t here him in the kitchen cutting up an orange so I walked in and he spotted me. I turned to go back to my room but he threw the knife as I was turning and it cut me. Thank god I turned or it could have been worse. I went to Hope and she stitched me up, not many people know but at one point she was in medical school. The only reason it’s so raised is that I tore it open two more times while running off.” Tobin says lightly. 

I run my hands over it a couple more times before letting my eyes wander amongst her other scars. A large one on her collarbone catches my attention. I ask her about that one and she launches into another story. 

“I think this one is actually my most recent one. A couple of months ago when I first got my bike I was super excited and had taken off on it for a ride. I was riding down a road that had a lot of trees on either side and came around a turn and saw a deer in the middle of the road. I swerved out of the way narrowly missing it, unfortunately I lost my balance when I did that and crashed breaking my collarbone and getting a few other scrapes.” She said shrugging her shoulders. “Alright you get to ask about one more and then that’s it for tonight, so you better make it a good one.” She jokingly says. 

I run my hands over her body, not oblivious that goose bumps break out everywhere I touch, and land on a really long scar running down the side of her hip. When she sees’s the one I chose she actually chuckles. 

“That one is all Kelley’s fault. We were Yolo boarding along the coast when she swore she saw a white squirrel on the cliff. I was joking around saying that it was probably some magical squirrel.” Tobin says laughing and I smile when I hear it. “ Kel got super excited and turned around with her paddle outstretched not knowing I had paddled up right beside her. She knocked me over into the water where my hip got cut on some coral. She felt so bad that she brought me fish tacos almost everyday for a month.” She says smiling at the memory. 

I laugh thinking about how funny Kelley must have been in that situation. I feel Tobin looking at me so I meet her gaze and stare at her for a few moments. 

“I love you.” She whispers to me. I reach up and lower her head and place a gentle kiss on her lips. 

“I love you too.” I say before moving on top of Tobin and kissing every scar I can physically see. When she feels me doing that she lets out a deep breath and closes her eyes. After allowing me to kiss a couple she drags my face up to hers and kisses me roughly. She rolls over to where she is on top of me and keeps me up for the rest of the night making love to me in the most tender and urgent way a person possibly could.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else as pumped as me for all the NWSL games this weekend??

Tobin’s POV

I wake up the next morning from Alex’s hair tickling my nose. I try rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and notice it’s still dark outside; I glance at my watch and see that’s its 5:38. I look down at Alex asleep in my arms and smile at how beautiful she is. I lay there for a few minutes just gazing at Alex not believing how lucky I was to call her mine. When my stomach grumbles I slowly slip out of bed careful not to wake her. I put on my shoes and climb down the balcony headed for the best donut shop in town. It was on the east side of town where I used to live, but they really did make the best donuts and I wanted Lex to try them. 

I pull up on my bike and enter the shop taking in the heavenly scent. Surprisingly the women behind the counter still remembers me and what I ordered when I was a kid. My mom used to take me here every Sunday and we would each get a donut. I smile as she begins loading up my favorite donut, Bavarian cream filled, and I motion for her to double my normal order. I’m turning to leave when someone else walks through the door. I look up and see I’m to face to face with my father. 

“Well shit. I never thought I would see you on this side of town again.” He says scoffing at me. 

“Trust me you won’t see me again.” I say trying to walk past him but he stops me by grabbing my arm tightly.

“ I know that we don’t get along but we’re blood. And blood helps out one another.” He says.

“Sorry but we’re not family.” I grumble out.

“Now listen. I’m in a tight spot and need your help with a job.” He says quietly tightening his grip on my arm

“Go fuck yourself.” I say leaning in before ripping my arm away and begin walking towards the door. 

“You know it sure would be a shame to see your girl Alex’s pretty face messed up.” He calls out to me. I freeze in my tracks and slowly turn around with a murderous look on my face. “Ooo got your attention with that didn’t I. Yeah I’ve seen you around town following her like a little puppy. It seems like you really like this girl.”

“You stay away from her.” I dangerously whisper out. 

“That could be done. If you help me out. Or she could end up like Maria.” He says raising an eyebrow. 

“Shut up! If you touch one hair on her head I will kill you with my bare hands.” I threaten as I clench my fist. 

“Looks like I hit a nerve.” He says smirking at me. “All of this can be avoided if you just agree to help me. Hell this saves me the time of going over to that side of town and asking you.” 

“I’m not going to do anything for you, and you aren’t going to get anywhere near Alex!” I yell at him causing the lady from behind the counter to walk towards us. 

“You little bitch you will do what I say or th-“

“Excuse me but your going to have to leave unless you want me to call the police.” The lady said. He stares at her for a full minute until he turns towards me with anger and hatred in his eyes.

“You’re going to regret saying no.” He sneers at me whirling around and walking off. 

All of the adrenaline drained from me as soon as he was out of sight and left my limbs weak and shaky. I drop into the nearest chair and place my head in my hands. He knew who Alex was and her name. The idea that he knows who she is and how much she means to me terrifies me. 

“Are you ok honey?” The lady asks me with concern.

“Yeah I’ll be ok. Thank you for the donuts and helping me out.” I answer shakily standing so I could finally get home. 

She tells me to come back soon as I walk out the door towards my bike. I quickly get back home and sigh in relief when I see that Alex is safely sleeping in my bed still. I place the donuts on my side table and climb into bed pulling Alex into me. In her sleep she curls into my side nuzzling her head into my neck. I hold her close never wanting to let go. I knew my dad would do anything to get his way, especially if he was in trouble with the drug lord he dealt for. If anything were to happen to Alex I don’t know if I could live with myself. At this moment I swear to myself that I wouldn’t let anything happen to Alex if I could help it. I kiss the top of her head and settle deeper into my bed. 

A few minutes later I feel Alex begin to stir and stretch as she starts to wake up. She opens her eyes and sends a sleepy smile my way running her hands over my stomach. She looks up in confusion when her hands come into contact with clothing. 

“Where did you go?” She asks as she takes in my tank top and shorts.

“I went and got us breakfast. I figured you’d be hungry after last night.” I say smirking at her.

Alex slides her body over mine straddling my waist and I look up at her and am immediately turned on at the sight of her naked body on top of me. 

“You guessed right. I'm starving.” She said smiling coyly. Our donuts lay forgotten on the table for the next hour.

Later on in the day after we had finally gotten out of bed and eaten those damn donuts we decided that it was a beautiful day to go to the park. I bring a couple of snacks and Alex brings a blanket so that we could lie on and relax. We get to the park and are walking hand in hand when we spot Brianna and Servando messing with a kite.

“Hey guys!” Alex excitedly calls out. I have to say I really love that Servando and I are on good terms again; I forgot how awesome it was to hang out with him. 

The pair turn around and smile when they see us approaching. I see that Serv has a huge kite in his hands and is just putting the finishing touches on it. 

“Hey y’all are just in time. This baby is about ready to fly.” Servando says holding the kite up.

“Wait! I need to put on the ribbons!” Brianna exclaims quickly tying the ribbons to the back of the kite.

After about 5 minutes of the kite flailing around, Servando finally has it up in the air and hands over the string to Bri. I watch how his face lights up when she laughs with childish joy at the kite, and find myself smiling with him. We stand around talking with each other and switching turns flying the kite. I’m standing by Brianna when I hear a familiar voice behind me.

“Alexandra?” I turn and see Alex’s mother and another lady walking to us. 

“Fuck me can this day get any worse.” I say under my breath. “Ok Bri please just play along and don’t ask questions.” I whisper to Brianna and take her hand in mine. 

“H-Hey mom. What are you doing here?” Alex asks with a surprised look on her face. 

“I was taking a walk with Mrs. Smith here and explaining how the new charity I’m helping out will completely refurbish this park.” She explains. She glances around our group and her eyes linger on me for a few seconds before snapping them back to Alex. “What are you doing here?”

“Serv and I came to fly a kite because we thought it was a beautiful day.” Alex says and Servando wraps his arm around her waist. I feel Brianna stiffen next to me from confusion and I feel terrible because obviously she doesn’t know the situation. 

“And why is she here?” She asks and I know she’s referring to me. 

“Oh Tobin and her girlfriend were just walking and stopped by to say hello when you walked up.” Alex says convincingly. I feel Bri move again but I squeeze her hand silently begging her to just hang in a little while longer. 

“Mrs. Morgan I planned on bringing Alex to the country club tomorrow for brunch. Would you care to join us?” He asks giving her a charming smile but I can see him casting a couple of glances towards Brianna. 

“Oh darling you’re so sweet but I can’t. I have a meeting in San Francisco for a breast cancer awareness foundation. I’ll have to take a rain check.” She says smiling sweetly at him. “Didn’t I tell you Alex that you and Servando would make the perfect couple?”

At this statement I hear Bri take in a sharp breath and pulls her hand out of my own storming off in the opposite direction. I close my eyes briefly before running after her. 

“Bri wait! Wait up you don’t understand!” I call out to her. By the time I catch up to her we’re about half a mile away from where we were. She had finally collapsed against a tree and was crying silently. I walk up to her and kneel next to her putting a comforting hand on her arm. 

“How are you being so calm about this?! Aren’t you in love with Alex? I mean I don’t understand I thought I meant something special to Servando! I thought tha-“ Bri exclaims in between sobs but stops when I place a hand over her mouth. 

“Brianna listen to me carefully. Alex and I are together. Just secretly; and Servando’s good enough of a person to help us still be together.” I say carefully and soon I’m spilling our entire story to Bri who sits there occasionally sniffing.

“Oh my god. Her mom is a total bitch. Who the hell doesn’t like you?!” Brianna says angrily. 

“We don’t exactly see eye to eye. But Bri you have to understand that Servando is head over heels for you.” I say earnestly.

“He is?” She says looking up.

“Yeah. I’ve never seen the guy so nervous around a girl before.” I say chuckling. “He probably didn’t want to tell you because he was afraid that you wouldn’t understand and wouldn’t want to be with him anymore.” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. 

“I have to find him and apologize.” She says standing and wiping away her tears.

“I don’t think you have anything to apologize for but lets go find them anyways.” I say hooking an arm around her shoulder and leading her in the direction we came from. 

We have to search for them for a few minutes until we finally find them over by the duck pond. Servando has a worried look on his face and I see that Alex does as well. The pair of them make their way over to us and Alex wraps her arms tightly around me and whispers into my neck.

“I’m sorry. I hate that we have to do this.”

“It’s ok. It’s not like we see her often anyways.” I say leaning back and giving her a peck on the forehead. I look back at Servando and Bri and can see they are in deep conversation but are holding hands.

“You think they are going to be ok?” Alex asks genuinely concerned.

“Yeah I talked to her. Servando hadn’t told her about our situation so it was really confusing for her and she just didn’t get it. I told her the whole story and she feels bad for storming off without waiting for an explanation.” I respond watching as Bri leans up and kisses Serv lightly on the lips causing him to smile widely. 

“I think we’re all going to be ok.” I say pulling Alex deeper into my embrace.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guysss sorry about the last chapter it was kind of sucky also sorry about the wait. This will be the last update on this story for at least the next week. I'm about to head into dead week...kill me now please. Anyways hope you enjoy and good luck to everyone on their final exams!!

Today is the last day of summer for everyone but me. All the girls and Servando have to head back for a final year of high school. We spend our last day hanging out on the beach, some of the crew enjoying a casual beer, and soaking up the sun. As day morphs into night we light up the driftwood we gathered earlier and sit around it. Alex sits in between my legs and I circle my arms around her holding her close to me and resting my chin on her shoulder. 

“I am going to be so bored without you guys.” I say realizing I will only be able to see them after school, and some after practice. 

“Oh poor you Toby.” Kelley says giving me the stink eye. 

“Yeah it must really suck to work at the shop all day instead of go to that hell hole also known as high school.” Pinoe says sarcastically.

“Alright geeze guys no need to gang up on me! I was just saying I’m going to miss hanging with you guys so much.” I say in my defense. 

“Don’t listen to them babe they’re just jealous.” Alex says twirling and pecking my lips. She turns back around and I kiss the side of her head and listen to the conversation of our group. 

“Let’s go for a walk.” I whisper into Alex’s ear before standing and wiping the sand off my legs. I hold my hand out for her and pull her up when she takes it. 

“Guys we’ll be back in a little bit.” Alex says waving at the group as we walk off hand in hand down the moonlit beach. 

I lead her to the shoreline and we walk along the coast letting the waves run over our feet. There are a ton of rocks a little further down the coast and we walk to them so we could sit and watch the waves crash onto the beach. She sits on one of the larger rocks and wraps her arms around her knees, leaning her head against my shoulder. 

“I’m going to miss this.” She says.

“We can still do this. I’m not dying.” I say chuckling.

“You know what I mean.” She says pushing my shoulder. 

“Yeah. I think I’ll miss waking up next to you the most. I want to sleep with you in my arms every night.” I say thinking of all the mornings I had woken up happy with Alex in my arms. 

“Well you know my parents travel an awful lot and I get lonely in that big house sooooo I might need some company every now and then.” She says slipping off of the rock and standing in front of me. 

“I think I can help with that.” I say putting my hands on her waist and pulling her in between my legs. 

Alex leans in and gently presses her lips against mine. Alex’s heavenly scent of vanilla and honey overwhelms my senses and I get lost in the kiss. Alex pulls away and it takes me a minute to come out of my daze. I grab her hand and place it over my heart.

“Do you feel that?” I ask referring to my racing heart. “No matter how many times I kiss you my heart pounds like it’s our first time. I don’t think your affect on me will ever fade.” I say and she smiles sweetly.

“I hope it never does.” She says enveloping me in a hug and kissing me with so much love I swear I saw stars. 

 

When we return back to the fire I see that the vibe has definitely settled down. Ali is sleeping against Ash and a couple of the other girls are stiffing yawns. We sit and talk for a few more minutes until people are standing and gathering their items. 

“Hey Serv can I talk to you for a sec?” I ask when I realize that everyone is starting to leave.

“Yeah sure Tobs.”

He gets up and walks to me but I turn around and walk further away from the fire. I didn’t want anyone to hear what we were going to talk about. When we are far enough away I turn around and meet Servando’s confused face

“What’ up?” He asks.

“Ok um so I need you to watch out for Alex when you’re at school.” I say seriously.

“Ok I mean I would do that regardless of this conversation.” He says and notices the worried look on my face. “What’s wrong?”

“I ran into my dad the other day.” I say and see that Servando automatically stiffens. “He basically told me that if I didn’t help him with a drug deal then he would take Alex and hurt her or maybe do something worse. So I am kind of freaking out that I wont be able to watch out for her for a very large part of the day. And I know I’m probably over reacting and stuff but I just don’t think I can handle another incident like last time.” I choke out getting emotional towards the end of my statement. 

I’ve hidden my worry from Alex for the last few days not wanting to freak her out or anything. Talking about it was a relief but made it more real, which scared the shit out of me. Servando is standing in front of me with his jaw and hands clenched looking out at the ocean. After a couple of seconds he lets out a sigh and puts a hand on my shoulder. 

 

“Tobin you aren’t over reacting. We all know the sick shit you’re dad would do. I will do everything I can to keep Alex safe. Trust me when I say I don’t think I could handle an incident like that again either. Alex and I have grown pretty close and I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.” He says looking at me sincerely before pulling me into a tight hug. I blink the tears that I hadn’t known were there out of my eyes and hug him back just as tight.

“Thanks Serv.” I say once our hug is over. 

“Anytime Tobs. I’ll also keep the football jocks from hitting on your girl.” He says trying to lighten the mood. 

“You better. I don’t want to have to bust into the school to kick someone’s ass.” I joke back. He puts an arm around my neck and we walk back to Alex and Brianna who are waiting for us by the extinguished fire. 

“Hey babe.” I say to Alex circling her waist with my arm and kissing the side of her head. “Ready to get out of here?” 

“Yeah let’s go.” 

We wave goodbye to Brianna and Servando, I send a nod his way and he winks back. I drive my bike to Alex’s house with her clinging tightly to me. When we pull up I stay on my bike waiting for her to climb off and walk inside. She climbs off but doesn’t walk inside she just stands to the side of the bike looking at me. 

“What?” I ask confused.

“Come up with me.” She says holding her hand out. I pause at her statement unsure of whether or not I should. “My parents will be in Paris for another week.” She says sensing the reason why I was so hesitant. 

“Well if that’s the case, what are we waiting for?” I say smiling and hopping off my bike. I take her hand and run up her driveway while she follows giggling at me. We run into the house and pass Jacob who I shout at a hello to. Once we reach the top of the stairs I don’t know where to go so I let Alex take the lead. I follow her slowly into the second door down the hallway. 

I look around and see that Alex’s room is 3 times the size of my small one. I walk around taking in her room while she sits on her bed watching me. In one corner of the room there is a large flat screen tv and black leather couch. Among all of the furniture and accessories, one in particular catches my eyes and I walk towards it. In front of a window that faces the west coast was a beautiful carved desk. I run my hands over it taking in the excellent workmanship. Across the desk are several notebooks and what looks like journals. I glance back at Alex and she nods for me to pick one up. I turn my attention back to the desk and pick up a small black notebook. Inside Alex’s handwriting is everywhere. She doesn’t write along the lines, she writes crooked and has little arrows pointing to certain sections with words connected to them. Among the madness of it all I read her words and am blown away at how amazing it is. 

“Alex this is seriously amazing. Why didn’t you tell me you wrote?” I say making my way towards the bed and sitting down next to her. 

“I don’t know it’s just a hobby.” She says quietly and shrugging her shoulders. 

“Lex you would be an extraordinary writer. Have you thought about majoring in that for college?”

“My parents want me to go into business so I can someday take over my father’s empire that he’s built.” She says playing with the edge of her bedspread. Anger flares up in me at the thought of her mother not letting Alex be who she wants to be. 

“I didn’t realize that they controlled your life and not you.” I say gently taking her hand in mine. She’s quiet for a few moments before looking up at me with a scared expression on her face. 

“I don’t want them to anymore.” She practically whispers. 

Alex looks so fragile in this moment I do the only thing I know to comfort her, I tilt forward and kiss her softly. The moment my lips touch hers, she deepens the kiss with a need that I hadn’t felt before. She pushes me back against her pillows and goes to straddle my waist. I sit up trying to reach her lips, but she pushes me down again causing my heart rate escalate very quickly. She leans down and starts to place kisses along my jaw and neckline. Alex nips my pulse point and that’s all I can take and I force her lips back up to mine. I kiss her hard and slip my tongue into her mouth to meet hers. She kisses me back passionately and I groan slipping my hands down to her butt and squeezing when she lightly bites my lip. 

“Take that off.” She heaves motioning to my shirt and I do so. 

“And that.” She says pointing to my bra and I shed it off leaving my upper body bare to her. 

She hovers over my chest kissing the soft skin right above my breast. I gasp when Alex’s tongue flicked out and teased my already hard nipple. Alex licked and sucked hard, sending hot sparks though my body and making me moan in ecstasy. She teases me for a few more minutes until I cant take it anymore. 

“Lex please.” I beg. 

Noticing the urgency in my voice she sits up and begins to strip off my shorts and underwear quickly. Once she has them off she throws them into some corner of her room and lowers her head to my stomach. She slowly kissed her way down to where I needed her most. I feel her hot breath against the most intimate part of my body and I shudder from the sensation. When her tongue does connect against my sensitive core I throw my head back not able to control the groan that escapes from between my lips. 

It doesn’t take long until I’m gripping the top of Alex’s head with one hand and the other is clutching the sheets for dear life. My hips rise up pleading for her to give me what I desperately needed. She looked up with her blue eyes, that seemed even bluer when full of lust, and inserted a finger inside of me. She watches me intently while moving her finger in and out of me. I close my eyes at the feeling of her touch.

“Look at me.” She huskily calls out and my eyes pop open right as she bends down and begins to suck on my clit. 

“Christ Alex!” I shout. 

I can already feel the orgasm about to rip through me, and Alex must as well because she picks up her pace. My pelvic muscles began to thrust and the next thing I know I’m hit with the most intense orgasm I’ve ever experienced. I whisper Alex’s name over and over and let out a mixture of a moan/sigh at the feeling of ecstasy racing through my body. 

As my orgasm starts to drift away, Alex gently stroked my thighs. She continued to kiss up my damp skin and smiled when she evoked a shiver out of me from her contact before climbing over my body and lying on top of me. We lay together silently drawing warmth from each other. 

“That was amazing Lex.” I say still slightly out of breath. 

“Thanks. I think I did a pretty good job from the sounds coming out of your mouth.” She says smiling with a playful look in her eyes. 

“Wow someone’s a little cocky shit.” I say laughing

“Maybe.” She said smirking and rolling off the bed. Before she can even take a step I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her back into bed. 

“Uh uh not so fast you have let me return the favor.” I say cheekily and flip her over to where I’m on top of her. For the next couple of hours we make love to each other until we are so exhausted we fall asleep in each others arms with the covers pooled at our waist.


	23. Chapter 23

I wake up when I feel something brushing against the side of my face. I peep open my eyes and see that its wisps of Alex’s hair flowing against my face because of the fan that we turned on in the middle of the night. I look outside and see that the sun is just starting to rise. I glance at the alarm clock on Alex’s bedside table and it says that it’s 6:45. Knowing that Alex needed to get up in now or in the next few minutes to get ready for school I start to gently run my fingers up and down her bare back because the sheets were still pooled around our waist. When I feel her start to stir I roll to where I am hovering over her and place kisses along her collar bone and in the crevice of her neck. I smirk when I hear her groan in frustration. 

“Toby its too early.” She mumbles with her eyes still closed. 

“Babe you have school today.” I remind her. 

“Ugh I just want to lay here in bed with you all day.” She says finally opening her eyes. 

“Trust me I wish you could.” I say smiling crookedly at her before leaning in and kissing her lips. She hooks an arm around my neck and places her other hand on my cheek, dragging me closer to her. She deepens the kiss and wraps her legs around my waist making my center connect with hers. I roll my hips against her extracting a groan from Alex. I begin to kiss down her chest when Alex’s door burst open. 

I don’t think I’ve ever moved that fast in my life. One moment I’m on top of Alex, and the next I’m on the ground hiding behind her bed. I pop my head up looking over the bed and see that Jacob has his hands over his eyes while Alex pulled the blankets up all the way up to her chin. If I weren’t naked on the ground this situation would be hilarious. 

“Jacob! What are you doing?!” Alex basically screeches. 

“I’m sorry Mrs. Alex, and Tobin, but your parents just got home and I thought I should warn you th-“

“What?! They just left for Paris why are they back already?!” Alex whispers loudly. 

“Alexandra!” A voice shouts from downstairs causing all of us to freeze in our spots. 

“Jacob go distract her!” Alex says and Jacob hurries out of the room closing it behind him. I immediately start pulling on my clothes in a hurry while Alex puts on her own clothes. 

“How do I get out without being seen?” I ask urgently in a low voice. 

“You’re going to have to go out the window.” She says putting a leg through a pair of shorts. 

“What?! You’re on the second floor!” 

“I know but there is trellis that is covered in vines right outside of my window. I promise it’s safe I’ve climbed down it before.” She says bringing me to the window. 

“Jacob I just need to speak with Alex. I’ll listen to your ideas on a new fountain in a minute!” A voice says in the hallway. 

“No time for that!” Alex says and quickly pushes me into her rather large closet and closes the door right as her bedroom door opens. Alex had not closed the door all the way and it allowed me to see into her room through the sliver. 

“Alex darling how are you?” Her mother says walking through the door. My heart constricts when I see the woman who had caused so much heartbreak step into the room and hug Alex. 

“I’m fine Mom I’m just about to get ready for school. Why are you home so early?”

“Oh the meeting your father had in Paris got canceled, which is actually a good thing because he had an important meeting in Los Angeles today. Luckily we had only made it to New York when he learned that the meeting was canceled, so we just stayed the night and flew back this morning.” She says sitting daintily on the side of Alex’s couch. 

“Alright well I have to get dressed for school Mom s-“

“Oh honey let me help pick out your outfit!” She says and gets up making her way towards the closet. My heart rate skyrockets while I try to quietly shuffle back into the corner behind clothes. 

“Oh Mom I totally forgot! Servando’s mother wanted me to tell you that when you got back she wanted to catch up over brunch at the country club.” Alex says quickly. 

“Catch up on what?” She asks with a confused expression. 

“I think about me and Servando.” At this her confusion falls off of her face and is replaced with a smile.

“Well I had better go and call her then shouldn’t I” She says and struts out of the room. Alex follows her and closes the door locking it before letting out a huge sigh of relief. I slowly walk out of the closet and Alex actually giggles at me. 

“What is so funny about this situation?” I ask because my heart is still pounding furiously. 

“It’s just the look on your face is priceless.” She says giggling more. 

“Well geeze I’m sorry your Mom scares the shit out of me because she can take you away from me!” I say slightly frustrated and begin to pull on my sneakers. I feel her arms wrap around my waist and she lays her head on my shoulder. 

“I’m sorry. You’re right that wasn’t funny, but just know that she can never take me away from you.” She says kissing my cheek and my shoulders relax. “You still have to climb out of the window though.”

“This is a terrible idea.” I say looking out the window.

“Do you have a better one?” She says cocking an eyebrow at me. 

“No. You’re lucky I’m not afraid of heights.” I say while swinging a leg over the edge of the window. I slowly lower myself until I feel the trellis under my feet. 

“You know this could be really romantic. I could throw little rocks at your window and confess my love to you before climbing up this and kissing the daylights out of you.” I say leaning against the window seal. Alex smiles and puts her elbows against the window seal also and leans in giving me a lingering kiss. 

“Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get ready for school.”

“Will you stop by the shop afterwards?” I ask trying not to sound desperate. 

“Of course.” She says and pecks my lips one more time before backing up and watching me slowly climb down the trellis. 

I finally reach the bottom and look up to see Alex smiling down at me. I blow her a kiss and beam when she catches it and puts it to her heart. I wave goodbye before scaling her fence and landing on the other side. I walk the short distance to my bike on the side of the road and take off in the direction of the shop. I arrive just as Abby is pulling into the lot and internally groan. 

“Well well well looks like somebody had a rough night.” She says smirking and pointing to my outfit. I look down and realize not only was my shirt on backwards, it was inside out. Maybe that’s why Alex thought I looked so funny I thought to myself. 

“Uh yeah.” I say rubbing the back of my neck. 

Abby just chuckles at me and goes to unlock the door, which I quickly walk through and head upstairs. I take a brief shower and walk out towel drying my hair when I notice a note that’s taped to my glass doors. I open the door and pluck it off the outside of the glass before reading it. When I do, I really wished I had left it unread. 

 

Last chance.   
Meet at the corner of Weston and Canal   
Friday at 1 am or else.

 

“Fucking shit.” I say balling up the paper and throwing it against the wall in anger and frustration. I run my hands through my hair and go through the options in my head. 

A: I could go to the cops, which may not work because he gives money to some dirty cops.  
B: I could ask Abby for help but that might drag her into this.   
C: Tell Alex what is going on.  
D: Go through with the deal and hope my Dad never bothers me again. 

Every option sucked and I had no idea what I was going to do. When my Dad is mad he is capable of anything and I don’t want Alex to ever have to experience that wrath. I needed a second opinion on this but the only person I could go to about this was in school. I walk over to the balled up paper and smooth it out prior to folding it carefully and putting it in my back pocket. For now it would stay there and burn a hole through my pocket until I chose what action I should take.


	24. Chapter 24

Alex’s POV

Never before in my life had I felt like school would never end. Hour by hour the clock slowly ticked by taunting me. The only bright side was that Kelley happened to be in every single one of my classes along with some of the other girls. At lunch we gathered around a single table and joked around which helped pass time quickly. Soon I was in my last class, World History, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m pulling out my notebook when I feel someone sit down in the desk next to mine. Looking up I see Servando smiling down at me. 

“Hey Serv! I didn’t know you had this with me and Kelley.” I say excitedly and motion at Kelley and myself. Kelley only gives him a small hand wave. She is the only one that hasn’t truly forgiven Servando for what he had done to Tobin. I silently hope that she would eventually forgive him and be friends with him like Tobin had done. 

“Yeah it’s the last history I needed.” He said also pulling out a notebook and waving good-naturedly to Kelley. 

“I’m so happy that soccer tryout aren’t until Wednesday.” I say.

“Someone’s not used to being restricted for 7 hours are they?” Servando teased. 

“I’m dying.” I dramatically state and lay my head against the desk. 

“Well we’ll be out of here in like 50 minutes so just hang in there.” He says as the teacher walks in and begins to right on the board. This class passed by the slowest because it was the last one and I couldn’t help but count minute by minute. The bell finally rings and I jump out of my desk and quickly walk with Kelley and Serv to the parking lot. 

“I’ll see you guys later!” I shout over my shoulder as I hurry to my jeep. 

It takes a little while to get out of school traffic, but soon I’m driving along the coast to the Sun Sand and Surf shop. I park and walk into the store noticing that Tobin is really busy at the moment with several customers wanting a couple of new surfboards. She sees me and sends me a smile before turning her attention to the customers listing out the positive and negatives of each board. I wait patiently by walking over to the area where Tobin sold her carvings. 

This week she had been in animal mood and that was what most of the shelf consisted of. There were deer, bear, hammerhead sharks, other types of sharks, several birds, and some other animals. She had a big piece of artwork that was a ton of different fish all connected as if they were swimming in a group. At the bottom of the artwork she had carved a reef with a lot of corals that were different sizes and shapes. I’m admiring the quality of it all when I feel a pair of arms wrap around my middle. I smile as Tobin pulls me into her and begins to kiss my neck. 

“I missed you.” She whispers as she continues to kiss me. 

“Not as much as I missed you.” I say turning around in her arms and giving her a proper kiss. 

She sighs into the kiss before kissing me back with more intensity. I run my hands down the sides of her body and smile when I feel her shiver against me. My hands continue to travel down her body and I slip them into the back pockets of her jean shorts. I feel something in one of the pockets and pull it out breaking our kiss to look at it. I see that it’s a note and read it quickly before going still. Tobin senses the change and looks to what I’m holding in my hand. When she sees what it is I see her swallow and look at me helplessly. 

“What is this Tobin?” 

“It’s nothing babe don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it? You’re supposed to meet someone at 1 am and I’m not supposed to worry?” I asked incredulously. Tobin just looks at me and shrugs her shoulders. Angry that she won’t tell me what’s going on I whirl around and stomp towards the exit. I don’t make it however because Tobin grabs my arm and quickly stops me. 

“It’s from my dad.” She confesses quietly. 

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?” I asked still kind of miffed. 

“I didn’t want anyone to worry.” She says staring at the floor. 

“Tobin he threatened you. He said show up “or else”.” I say using my fingers to quote the note.

“I know I just didn’t want to drag you into it.” She says rubbing the back of her neck. Tobin still hasn’t looked up yet and she has a worried upset look on her face. My anger is now gone and is replaced with concern as I see that she is internally battling with herself. I place a hand on her cheek and wait until she looks up at me. 

“Please tell me what this is about?” I ask once she’s raised her head to look at me. 

“About a week ago my dad stopped me in a donut shop. He wanted my help in a deal and when I told him no he got mad and threatened me.”

“What did he threaten you with?”  


“It was nothing.” She said with a shrug of her shoulders not looking at me. 

“Tobin.” I say in a hard voice which makes her sigh. 

“You.” She says so quietly I hardly hear it. 

“What?”

“He threatened me with you. He said if I didn’t help him he would do something to you.” She says in a small voice. I pause not knowing what to say and Tobin must see the look on my face because she starts rambling. 

“Lex I wont let him do anything to you EVER. He can blow up on me all he wants but I promise I’ll never let him get near you. I’ll do this for him so he won’t-“

“Tobin stop I’m not scared of that. I do not want you meeting your dad this Friday.”

“But-“

“No buts Tobin. You are not helping him with that deal and nothing is going to happen to me. I can promise you that. He would be stupid to come after me because he would be a dead man the moment my dad heard about his threat. So I don’t want you to worry babe.” I say holding Tobin’s hands against my chest. She looks like a lost puppy trying to find their way home, but not knowing which way to go and I can’t stand it. I pull her closer to me and gently kiss her. I can feel how tense she is and it takes a couple of small kisses on my part for her to relax and actually kiss me back. 

“Hey I’m going to spend the night tonight.” I say once I pulled back. 

“Ok.” She said smiling lovingly at me. She kisses me one last time as she hears someone walk through the front door and goes to help them. 

I spend the few remaining hours that the shop is open talking to Tobin or reading through some magazines. It’s finally time for her to close for the day and she locks up the door and straightens everything. She takes my hand when she’s done with that and leads me upstairs. We spend the next few hours chilling upstairs in her room. I sit and talk to Tobin while she gets in a bit of carving. At about 9 o’clock, Tobin stands stretching her stiff muscles. 

“Want to go take a shower?” She asks with a smirk on her face. I don’t answer her, but walk out of the room sending my own smirk at her over my shoulder. I’m turning around when I feel her arms around me and she’s picking me up. I start laughing and demanding that she puts me down. She carries me to the bathroom and only then sets me back down onto the ground. We take a not so quick shower before settling into bed. I always sleep in Tobin’s favorite pair of boxers and a loose tank top. One because the boxers were incredibly comfy and secondly because I loved the cute little smile on Tobin’s face every time I wore them. She climbs into bed and lays her head on my chest wrapping an arm around my middle and places a kiss right underneath my jaw. 

“I love you.” She whispers. 

“I love you too.” I whisper back. 

I can feel Tobin drifting off to sleep with her head still rested on my chest. I hold her close to me as I listen to her breaths get deeper and slower. I stay awake late into the night thinking of the plan I have in my head for this Friday.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow hey guys! Sooo I've been gone for so long because my computer got a virus and it deleted everything off of my computer. Pictures, emails, all of my word documents, everything.... to say I was miffed is an understatement. So I am so so sorry that I have been gone for so long and I hope I can get back to updating regularly! Hope you guys enjoy!

Alex’s POV 

My first week at school has gone by much quicker then the first day did. It’s still a drag but not near as bad as the first day. After soccer tryouts on Wednesday, which I breezed through, I felt a little better about this school after that. Kelley, Pinoe, Syd, Ash, and Ali were all on the team so I’m pretty sure that this season is going to be a blast. 

It’s finally Friday and although I’m glad it’s the end of the week my stomach is in knots for what I was preparing to do tonight. There was no way on earth I was going to let Tobin meet her dad tonight at 1. I was going to do it instead. After talking to Tobin on Monday neither of us had broached the situation, but I could see a visible difference in her. When I had told her goodbye this morning, I had spent the night at her place, she looked so nervous and had insisted on driving me to school and picking me up. I didn’t argue with her knowing she was just being over protective of me. 

Throughout the day Kelley kept giving me weird looks and asking if I was ok. I just told her my stomach hurt, which I technically wasn’t really lying about. When the bell rang announcing that school was over with I say goodbye to Kelley and Servando and head outside. I look around the parking lot and finally spot Tobin leaning up against a tree with her bike parked next to it. As I walk closer she spots me and I see a relieved smile cross her face. 

“Hey.” She says once I’m close enough and pulls me into a hug.

“Hey.” I reply and pull back placing a quick kiss on her lips. 

“C’mon lets get out of here.” She says pulling me onto the bike behind her. I instantly wrap my arms around her waist and give it a little squeeze. I must admit I hated her ride in the beginning but now I kinda like it. I wonder if she would ever teach me how to drive it. I didn’t realize we had already gotten to the shop until I feel Tobin start to climb off of the bike. 

“I’ve got a couple more hours until the shop closes so you can go chill upstairs.”

“You know what I think I’ll take you up on that offer, I’m pretty sleepy.” I say while repressing a yawn. 

“I’ll see you in a bit.” She says kissing me on the cheek before heading to the storage room. 

I walk up the spiral staircase and lay down on Tobin’s bed kicking off my shoes and socks. I’m glad Tobin suggested this because I needed to take a nap if I was going to stay up possibly all night. I snuggle into her bed hugging her pillow and following asleep to the pleasant unique smell only Tobin gives off. 

It feels like its only been 5 minutes when I feel Tobin kissing my neck gently. Deciding to mess with her I lay completely still acting like I’m still asleep. I can feel her body pushed up against my back while her hands roam across my body. She nips at my collarbone and kisses it softly making goose bumps erupt all over me. 

“I know your not sleeping Lex.” She whispers in my ear. I decide to keep acting like I was asleep though just to mess with Tobin. She chuckles and kisses her way down my neck while simultaneously letting her hands travel down my stomach. Her fingers slip under my shirt and play with the edge of my shorts. She teases me by dipping her hand inside of my underwear and I cant help it when my hips push back against her begging her for more. 

“Hah! I knew you were up!” She says joyfully and pulls her hand out of my underwear and hops out of bed. 

“Ugh your such a tease come back here.” I say rolling over and giving her a burning look while pulling my shirt up slowly. I watch as her eyes darken and she seems to teeter totter in place. She shakes her head and closes her eyes briefly as if she were clearing her head before taking a step back and smiling sweetly at me. 

“Sorry babe can’t.” 

“Why not?” I ask pouting because all of Tobin’s light touches had me worked up. 

“Because if I get in bed with you I wont want to leave and that wont work because then our dinner would burn.” She says pulling me out of bed and giving me a small peck. 

Tobin holds my hand as we walk down the spiral staircase and into the small kitchen in the storage area. The first thing I notice are the lights are off and in the middle of the room Tobin has set up a table with candles in the middle giving the room a glowing hazy effect. My heart constricts a little with emotion at how romantic Tobin could be. This week has been miserable because I had gotten used to spending practically the whole day with Tobin, and now I was limited to only a couple of hours a day. She pulls out my chair and motions for me to take a seat. Once I do she takes a bottle of what looks like wine out of a bucket of ice next to the table. 

“I have here Welch’s finest sparkling grape juice in all of California. Would you care to try some?” Tobin asked with a slight smirk on her face while showing me the bottle. 

“I would love some.” I say smiling as she pours the juice into my wine glass before pouring some into her own. 

“What are we celebrating?” I ask her as she walks into the kitchen. 

“We are celebrating you making it through the first week of school without dying from boredom. At least that’s what my spies told me.” 

“Your spies?” I ask and although it’s dark I can see her white teeth from her smiling.“What else have your spies told you??” 

“Well,” she says as she walks back with two plates in her hands “My spies told me that you are the hottest new thing at school and that you’re fitting in pretty well.”

“Oh really?” I say taking a bite out of the chicken parmesan Tobin had just set down in front of me.

“Mhm. Also that um quiet a few guys have already approached you.” She says trying to sound casual but failing miserably. Damn I wonder who the spy is? It had to be Kelley or maybe Cheney. A couple of guys have come up to me and two had even asked me out but every time I would nicely decline. 

“Yeahh I agreed to go on a date with one of them.” I teasingly say and she gives me an evil eye.

“Your not funny.” She says with a straight face and I just wink at her. We finish our dinner joking around and just talking about our week. As we clean up Tobin keeps caressing my body every chance that she gets. After having been teased earlier I couldn’t stand any more of her light touches. When she touches my hip, I slam her up against the fridge and kiss her roughly. I feel her smile into my mouth before kissing me back just as passionately. She puts her hands right below my butt and lifts me up against her and I immediately wrap my legs around her waist. 

“If I remember correctly I have to finish something from earlier.” Tobin says cheekily while starting to walk. 

“That you do.” I say pulling her lips back to mine. 

\------------------- 

I look over to the clock on Tobin’s bedside table and see that it reads 12:10. Sighing I glance down at Tobin sleeping deeply next to me. Tobin always falls asleep a few minutes after we make love and usually doesn’t wake up until morning. I still wasn’t taking a chance though and slowly inch-by-inch slid out of the bed. Tobin stirred in her sleep but I place a light kiss on her cheek and she soon went back to dreaming peacefully. Once out of bed, I slid on my shoes and a black hoodie and tip toed out onto her balcony. I start my car praying that Tobin doesn’t wake up to the sound of my engine starting and pull out of the parking lot. 

I park a few blocks away from Canal Street deciding to walk the rest of the distance. When I’m a street away from the corner of Weston and Canal I hide behind the corner of a building scoping out the area. My heart feels like its pounding out of my chest. Never in my life had I ever had to do anything close to as dangerous as what I was about to do. I glance down at my watch and see that I’m still 30 minutes early so I sit by the corner of the building and wait to see what happens. 

My heart starts to pound faster as the minutes pass by. When its about 10 minutes before 1, I see a black SUV pull up to the corner and park. The front passenger door opens and the man I had seen beat up Tobin on the beach weeks ago walks out. Her dad stretches his arms over his head and looks around the street before glancing at his watch. Deciding that it was time to get this over with I take a deep breath and stand up. I’m about to walk into the streets when I feel a hand clamp over my mouth and drag me into the alley.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys the hype I have for this USA vs GER game is unreal!!

Alex’s POV

I try and fight back against the person that’s pulling me back but when I feel another set of hands restraining my arms. Before they are able to get a firm grip on my arms I elbow up with two quick jabs as hard as I can hoping to make some type of contact. My elbow connects with something and I feel someone groan and quickly elbow them again in the stomach while stomping on their foot and I feel them fall to the ground behind me. 

“Jesus Christ Lex it’s me!” I hear a voice whisper out. 

I whirl around to see Servando bending over Tobin who is on the ground on her hands and knees trying to get her nose to stop bleeding. 

“Oh my god! Tobin I-“

“Lex keep your voice down!” Tobin whispers sharply. Tobin scoots over against the brick wall and holds her stomach while pinching her nose and closing her eyes. 

“Tobin I’m so so sorry I didn’t know it was you! What are you and Serv doing here?!” I say quietly.

“What are we doing here what are you doing here?” She asks picking up her head and looking at me with a piercing look. 

“Look guys we can argue about this all we want but lets get the hell out of here and away from those goons.” Servando says while helping Tobin gingerly to her feet. I try and hold Tobin’s hand but she just speeds up her walking not looking at me. I realize I have royally messed up and Tobin is furious with me. 

“Serv I’m parked around the block.” I say once we get to the end of the street. 

“Ok um we can all meet back at Tobin’s place.” Servando says glancing at Tobin who kept walking in the direction of their ride. I just nod my head and walk dejectedly to my car. The drive back to the shop was a quick one and I was glad once I was back there. I get there before Tobin and Servando do so lean against my car and wait for them to arrive. I don’t have to wait very long until an old green land cruiser pulls into the parking lot. Tobin climbs out of the passenger seat and walks towards me. 

“Tobi-“I start to say but she storms right passed me and begins to climb her balcony. 

I turn to look at Servando and he comes up to me sighing and putting a hand on my shoulder. I feel myself start to get teary eyed and put my face on his shoulder. 

“Serv I didn’t mean to hit her! I thought it was someone else not you guys!” 

“I don’t think she’s upset with you beating the heck out of her. Well maybe just a little. I think she’s upset that you were going to meet her dad to do that deal.” Servando says. 

“ I just wanted him to leave her alone!”

“Look Alex I can kind of sort of see where you’re coming from but that was seriously stupid. You don’t know how bad of a guy he really is until you have to deal with him first hand. Trust me, he’s not someone you want to be around. Now if I were you I would go up there and apologize to your girl for sneaking out and kicking her ass.” He says and I look up at the balcony nervously. 

“Listen she loves you more than anything else in the world. You should have seen her freaking when she realized where you might have gone. I’ve never seen her like that before, not even when Maria would go missing. There is no need to be nervous about her breaking up with you ok? Just let her know that you love her and you wont do something this stupid ever again.” He says with a slight smirk on his face at the end of his sentence. 

“Ok. I’ll see you later Serv.” I say and start to climb up the balcony to Tobin’s room. Servando just waves at me before climbing in his car and driving off. I take a deep breath and open the sliding door to talk with Tobin. 

When I first walk into the room she is nowhere in sight but I can hear running water in the bathroom so I slowly head in that direction. I step into the doorway and watch as Tobin cleans the blood off her face and neck from where I had struck her twice. I know that she knows I’m right behind her so I wait patiently until she is ready to speak to me. Once most of the blood is cleaned off of her she places both hands on either side of the sink and lets her head hang between her shoulders. 

“Do you know how scared I was?” She croaks out. 

“No.” I say quietly. 

“When I woke up and you weren’t in bed with me and nowhere in the shop I thought-I thought he took you. I thought he had somehow come into my room and taken you without me waking up. I thought my past had come back to haunt me and it was going to cause you harm. I felt sick to my stomach. No way was this happening again. I called Servando immediately and we went out in search of you praying that we would find you.” She says finally turning around and facing me. When she did I wanted her to turn around again because of the broken down wounded look on her face. “I don’t think words can comprehend how relieved I was to see you crouching down by that wall. It hit me like a bus in that moment that I knew if anything were to happen to you because of me I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.” 

“Tobin.” I say moving from my place against the doorframe towards her and cupping her face in between my hands. 

“Do you know how much you mean to me? I wish I could explain the way your eyes affect me every time you look at me, and how the sound of your voice gives me butterflies. How your smile makes my heart skip a beat and how every time I’m with you, I feel so complete. I love you so much it scares me.” Tobin murmurs looking into my eyes with her own teary ones. 

With her statement I completely lose it and start crying profusely against Tobin. I feel her sigh and hold me tight against her kissing the side of my head. She picks me up and carries me to her bed and lies down with me holding me close. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry god I don’t deserve you.” I sniffle into her shoulder. 

“Seriously?” She says leaning back and tilting my chin up with her finger. “My beautiful girlfriend snuck out of a warm bed in the middle of the night to go make a deal with my no good drug dealer of a father so I wouldn’t have to and you think you don’t deserve me?” Tobin says smiling sweetly at me.

“Mhm.” I say burrowing myself into her shoulder causing her to chuckle. 

She picks up my head and kisses me lightly but it made me feel as if we had been kissing for hours already. After only a few moments I deepen the kiss and move my hands to cup her face. But before the kiss goes to far Tobin pulls back wincing. 

“Oh geeze I’m sorry Tobin! I totally forgot about your nose!” I exclaim

“Maybe we should save that kiss for later.” She says grinning a little. 

“I really am sorry about that by the way.” I say lightly tracing the outline of her nose where it was already giving her a black eye.

“It’s ok it doesn’t hurt that bad and it’s just a nose who really cares? At least I know you can protect yourself pretty well.” Tobin says with a smirk and a shrug of her shoulders. 

We lay in bed together too exhausted physically and emotionally to get up and change. I’m lying with my head on Tobin’s chest with my hand under her shirt while Tobin slowly plays with my hair. We haven’t spoken in the past 10 minutes and I’m starting to fall asleep when Tobin’s voice wakes me up. 

“Lex?”

“Yeah?” 

“Promise me you wont do something that stupid ever again.” 

I pop my head up from its spot and rest my chin on her chest looking up at her. “I promise.” I say leaning forward and kissing Tobin softly. 

“I love you.” I whisper against her lips. 

“I love you more.” She sighs into me and pulls me impossibly closer to her. I snuggle into her side and think of how much of a gentle soul Tobin really was.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry I've been terrible about updating but I've had a difficult time coming up with a way to slowly wrap up this story. It takes me so long to get updates out to you guys because I don't want to post it until I'm completely satisfied with it. You guys wait patiently for updates so the least I can do is make sure they are done to the best of my ability. Anyways sorry again for the wait and I can absolutely promise you that the next chapter will be up within 24 hours! Hope you enjoy!

Tobin’s POV

The next week flew by surprisingly quick. When Alex and I had woken up she apologized to me about a thousand times after she saw that she had given me a black eye. It really wasn’t that bad, I just had a small bruise under my eye but she thought it was the worst thing in the world. She made me promise to her that I was totally ok before she left for school. Abby had walked into the shop a few minutes later and upon seeing my black eye she folded her arms across her chest and cocked her hip out to the side. I explain what happened leaving out the part about Alex going to meet my dad and tell her I had sneaked up on Alex as a prank and she flipped. Abby bought my story and it had even made her chuckle a little. 

“You sure do know how to pick them kid.” She said ruffling my hair as she walked by. 

The shop had been unusually busy for the middle of August. I guess college kids are trying to get last minute surfing in before school starts for them next week. I didn’t even realize it was past 3 o’clock until I see Alex walk into the door with her backpack. 

“Hey beautiful.” I say dropping the swimsuits I was restocking and skipping over to Alex placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Hey.” She responds by kissing me lightly on the lips. “ How was your day?” 

“Pretty busy actually.” I say and start to talk about all of the things I had to do today. I was in the middle of repeating what I had to do for this snobby college boy when Alex interrupted me. 

“Do you want to come over tonight?”

I freeze in the middle of my story my hands still up in the air from where I was using them to illustrate what was going on and stare at Alex. “Um you do remember what happened last time right?” I ask slowly lowering my arms. 

“Ok this time is totally different! I know for sure that my mom is out of town and will not be back until tomorrow night.”

“I don’t know Lex.” I say rubbing the back of my neck. 

“Come on Tobin it’s Friday night, I don’t have school tomorrow, and I want to make you dinner!” She says sticking her bottom lip out.

“Alexxxx.”

“Tobinnnn.”

“Alex.”

“Tobyyy.”

“Ugh fine! But I swear if your mom suddenly comes home that is the last time I’m going over there.” I say pointing a finger at her.

“I promise she won’t be there!” She says happily and smiling widely at me. 

“I get off at 6 so we can head over there as soon as I lock up.” 

“Ok sounds good I can just read my book that I was assigned.” Alex says sitting in the chair behind the counter. I just chuckle and go back to restocking the shelves. 

A couple of hours later I’m walking into the Morgan house with a slightly accelerated pulse. I know Alex said her mom wouldn’t be here but that still doesn’t stop me from being nervous. My nerves fall away however when I see Jacob beam at me the moment he sees me. 

“Tobin it’s so nice to see you.” He says walking briskly over to me. 

“Thanks Jacob it’s nice to see you too! This one over here finally convinced me to come back over here.” I say pointing with my thumb to Alex causing him to laugh.

“Well it’s about time. Alex, André has gotten all of the items that you asked for.” Jacob says.

“Awesome! Lets go Tobin!” Alex says and grabs my hand pulling me behind her as she ran off.

“Don’t burn down the house!” Jacob shouts after us. 

Alex pulls me down several hallways until we reach a large wooden door. She pushes it open to reveal the most glorious looking kitchen I had ever seen before. My mouth drops slightly open as I take in everything that is inside of this huge room. Alex walks to the far side of the room and motions for me to follow her. 

“This is probably my favorite place in this whole house.” She says with her hand on a doorknob. 

She opens it up and steps to the side to let me walk in. My jaw completely drops at the sight of what was inside the doorway. This was by far the biggest pantry I had ever seen. It was bigger then the room that I slept in for crying out loud. I walked around in amazement looking at the fruit and vegetable area, then the spice cabinet, and then the refrigerated and frozen area. 

“Did you guys rob a grocery store or something?” I asked looking around at the fully stocked shelves. They even had a fish tank for lobsters and crabs. 

“No.” Alex says chuckling. “My dad insisted on having a top notch kitchen and that included having a walk in pantry. He likes to cook when he is actually off of work. Now go sit on that stool over there and look pretty!” Alex exclaims. 

I do as she says and sit on one of the stools that surround the large island. I giggle as I watch Alex don on a white apron with her name on it before starting to grab all of the items that she needs. She comes back with an entire armload and sets it down on the counter in front of me. 

“Mmm what are we having Lex?” I ask leaning on the counter to see all of the items that she brought from the pantry. 

“We are having mac and cheese, which is a divine recipe that André brought back from France, and chicken Panini sliders!” Alex says excitedly. 

“Sounds delicious babe. Can I help you with anything?” I ask already making my way around the counter. 

“Uh uh nope! Back to your seat! You always do so much for me now let me do this one simple thing for you!” 

“Ok ok.” I say holding my hands up in defense. 

Alex makes quick work for completing the macaroni and hurries and pops it into the oven so it can start cooking. I watch her as she skillfully cuts the chicken into thin slices prior to seasoning them. 

“Lex how do you know how to cook so well?”

“Before meeting you, I spent a lot of time with André in the kitchen learning how to cook because I was so bored all of the time.”

“Well it looks like it paid off.” I say as she starts cutting up jalapenos at rapid speed. 

“I hope so!”

I study Alex as she cooks for the next half hour and a grin spreads across my face watching her in her obvious element. She looked as calm and confident as I felt when I was out in the ocean. I must have been quiet for too long because Alex looks up at me.

“Why have you got that goofy grin on your face?” She asks teasingly. 

“No reason. I just love you.” I sigh and she breaks out into a grin. She puts down her spoon and makes her way to me kissing me lightly on the lips. 

“I love you too.” She says before spinning around and making sure that our dinner doesn’t burn. 

Five minutes later she slides an absolutely delicious looking plate in front of me. I wait for her to sit down next to me prior to taking a bite. 

“Oh my gosh Lex. This mac and cheese is out of this world!” I groan out taking another big bite. “It even beats the macaroni Ashlyn’s grandma makes and that’s saying something!”

“Thanks babe.” She said pecking my cheek then turning to her own plate. 

About halfway through our meal, a tall lanky man in his late twenties waltzes into the kitchen. Upon seeing Alex he smiles instantly.

“Ahh Alex this must be Tobin.” He says with a French accent. 

“Yes! André this is Tobin, Tobin this is André.”

“It’s very nice to meet you Tobin. Alex doesn’t stop talking about you ever. When we are in the kitchen together I cant even talk about food because she wont stop talking about you.” He teasingly says causing me to smile while Alex cheeks turn a faint pink color. 

“Alright André we have to clean so shoo.” Alex says poking him in the side. 

“No Alex let me clean up for you.”

“It’s ok André we can get it.”

“Please you know how picky I am when it comes to my tools.” He says motioning to all of the cooking utensils around him. 

“Ok fineee.” Alex says pulling me out of my chair and walking out of the kitchen.

“It was nice to meet you André!” I call out waving over one shoulder. 

Alex leads me up the stairs and into the room before launching herself onto her bed. I chuckle and follow after her, landing right next to her. As soon as I landed on the bed, Alex rolled on top of me pinning my arms down on either side of my head. I just smirk at her as she slowly lowers her head and kisses my lips. I’m not letting Alex deepen the kiss so she playfully nibbles at my bottom lip making me chuckle. 

“That’s not going to work Lex.”

“Why not?” She complains against my lips.

“Just wait until it’s a little later and no one else is up.” 

“Ugh fine!” She sighed dramatically falling back against her pillows. 

“We could watch a movie though.”

“Yes! We need snacks!” Alex says jumping off of her bed. I run after her laughing down the stairs and into the kitchen. 

“We literally just had dinner Alex.”

“Yeah I know but you can’t watch a movie without popcorn and ice cream!” Alex shouts excitedly. 

She races around the small grocery store in their pantry and brings out a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and a bag of popcorn. She puts it in the microwave and hops onto the counter already digging into the ice cream. I walk up and place myself between her legs, opening my mouth to indicate I wanted a bite. She scoops me a spoonful and brings it to my lips but suddenly wipes it across my face. 

“Alex!” I exclaim trying to move back but she had wrapped her legs around my waist pinning me in place. 

“You’ve got a little something on your face Toby.” She says giggling while I playfully glare at her. “Let me clean it off.”

She grabs both sides of my face and pulls me further into her embrace. She kisses away all of the ice cream that she had smeared across my face. Once it feels like she’s gotten everything I turn my head to actually bring her lips onto mine. I savor the sweet taste of ice cream on her lips while gently massaging her thighs. 

“Ahem.” 

We break apart and turn towards the noise by the doorway and freeze. Alex’s dad is leaning against the doorframe staring at us.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol I bet you guys didn't think I was actually going to get this chapter out the next day did ya? ;)

Tobin’s POV

“Ahem.”

We break apart and turn towards the noise by the doorway and freeze. Alex’s dad is leaning against the doorframe staring at us.

I try to say something but my voice box isn’t working so my mouth just opens and closes without any noise coming out. Alex’s voice box on the other hand is working pretty well.

“DAD?! What are you doing home?!” Alex squeaks out while pushing me away from her and jumping off the counter.

“My meeting in LA ended early and I didn’t feel like spending another night in a hotel. I came to the kitchen to do some cooking but I see we have guest over.” Her dad says.

“Um dad you see uh we-“ Alex tries to explain

“Alex.” Her dad says with his hand raised causing Alex to deflate and lower her head.

“I’ll go home.” I mumble and start to walk out the door.

“Not so fast.” Alex’s dad says catching me by the arm and pulling me back into the kitchen.

“Alex go up to your room.” He says.

“Dad please.” Alex pleads.

“Alexandra go up to your room.” Mr. Morgan says in a commanding voice.

“Yes sir.” She whispers with her head bowed.

When Alex walks out of the room I feel like I’m going to throw up. Alex’s dad walks into the pantry and motions for me to follow after him. I follow slowly behind him and watch as he starts to pull all kinds of things from the shelves and places them in my arms. He grabs a few things himself and makes his way back into the kitchen and places the items down on the counter. I put down the items in my hands onto the counter also and wait for his next move. He pulls out a knife quickly and moves it towards me. In that moment I have a flashback to the last time a knife was pointed at me.

_“Are you fucking serious?!” My dad says stumbling towards me._

_“Dad I didn’t do anything I promise!” I say crouching down into the corner he had backed me into._

_“Oh so the fridge just happened to break? How the fuck am I supposed to pay for that huh?! I already have to feed your sorry ass!” He says while pulling out knife from the drawer to open his beer. I feel anger rise up in me and before I even think about the consequences I snap._

_“Feed me?! You don’t feed me! I have to feed myself because you’re to busy getting shit faced every single damn-“ I yelled at him but stop when he suddenly whirls around and throws the knife at me. I barely have time to duck and feel a sharp pain in my arm. I look at my right arm and see that the knife had cut me pretty good as it whipped by me. It was now bleeding profusely and I covered it with my hand to try to get it to stop._

_“Yeah serves you right you damn bitch for talking back to me.” He says wobbling off to the living room and turning the TV on._

_I wait until he’s gone until I move and grab a towel off the counter trying to put some pressure on it but it only makes me whimper in pain._

After having that 5-second flashback I flinch away from the knife and Mr. Morgan, which made him scrunch his eyebrows together.

“I’m handing you a knife to cut up ingredients. Did you actually think that I would cut you?” He asked me slowly.

I just shake my head and rub the raised scar on my arm before taking the knife. Mr. Morgan instructs me on how he wants the vegetables cut and we begin cutting and prepping the food in silence. We don’t speak for a few minutes and my nerves calm just a little bit. Maybe he wouldn’t snap off my head after all.

“So Tobin, I thought my wife told you to stay away from our daughter.” He casually states as he is mixing some spices.

At this I drop the knife I was holding and freeze. I start to stutter trying to come up with some kind of excuse.

“Tobin.”

I immediately shut up and just stare at the bowl of cutup of veggies in front of me.

“Look at me.”

I close my eyes for a brief moment and then slowly turn and face the extremely intimidating man in front of me.

“Do you love my daughter?” He asks, and I must have looked like a bobble head with the way I nodded my head so quickly.

“I need a verbal statement.”

“Ye-Yes. More than you could possibly know.” I manage to get out while he stares me down.

“I know that my wife doesn’t approve of you two’s relationship. I know it’s because of the family you came from. I know you came from an abusive drug filled household. I know that you have absolutely no money to your name. And I know that my wife has told Alex more than once to break up with you and move onto bigger and better things in life. “ He says this as he meticulously measures out seasonings.

My head drops lower at every statement that he says knowing that they are all true, and now he was going to tell me to stay away from his daughter for forever.

“And that’s unfair. Because I know she loves you. I haven’t been around much but I can see that she is unbelievably happy with you. And whenever my wife told you two to separate, I’ve never seen my Alex so distraught. My wife doesn’t always have her priorities right but she just wants what’s best for Alex. Although she doesn’t think you are what’s best for her, I do.”

At hearing this my head pops up so quickly I’m surprised I didn’t pull something. I try to say something but he holds up a hand indicating that he isn’t finished.

“So please don’t be scared to walk into this house. You have my blessing to be with my daughter because I know you make her happy. It doesn’t matter to me if you came from a perfect or broken family. It doesn’t matter to me if you have more money then me or are as poor as dirt. What does matter to me is that Alex is happier with you, a girl from a poor and broken family, than I have ever seen her.” Alex’s dad says placing a large warm hand on my shoulder.

I stare into his warm calming eyes that look so much like Alex’s bright blue ones that I cant help but let a tear makes its way down my face as I hug him quickly and tightly.

“Thank you.” I whisper into his chest and he chuckles hugging me back.

I step back and wipe away the tears on my face quickly and clear my throat before turning back to my job of chopping.

“What about Alex’s mom?” I mumble out quietly to him.

“What about her?”

“She hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you.” He says and I just stare at him until he backtracks a little.

“Don’t worry about her Tobin. I’ll convince her to take a step back and see how happy you make Alex.” He says and I nod my head.

After a few moments of silence, Mr. Morgan turns to me with a confused look on his face.

“When we were in Paris I thought Alex was with Servando?”

I take a deep breath and explain to him how they were fake dating so that it would trick Alex’s mom into thinking she was spending time with Servando, when in reality she was spending time with me. When I finished explaining he looked at me for a couple of seconds without saying anything.

“You two really want to be together don’t you?” He said more as a statement then a question.

“Yes sir.” I say confidently.

He nods his head and another few moment of silence go bye.

“So what happened to your eye?”

I start to laugh hard when he asked me that because it seemed like such a casual question after our previous conversation. I tell him the story, of course leaving out the part where it was going to meet my dad to do a drug deal.

“Well at least I know she can protect herself.” He says joining in on my laughter.

We talk lightly and even joke a couple of times as Alex’s dad tells me what to do as we navigate through the kitchen. After about 45 minutes we have our final product in front of us. Asian noodle salad with pan seared Ahi tuna.

“Tobin, I’d like you to come to and eat dinner with us tomorrow night. I want to get to know the girl who has captured my baby girl’s heart.” He says as he starts to fix a bowl of the salad.

For about half a second fear courses through my body, but then I realize that her Dad actually likes me, so I push down that fear and accept his invitation.

“I would love to sir.” I say smiling, which makes him smile back.

“Ok well I feel like I’ve interrogated you for long enough, Alex is probably pacing a whole into her carpet.” He says with a chuckle. As I walk out of the kitchen he pats me on the shoulder, and I straighten up a little more with pride knowing I was accepted by at least one of Alex’s parents.

I race up the stairs, but slow down the closer I get to Alex’s room. I open up the door slowly and find Alex, just like her dad said, pacing in front of her windows with a concerned look on her face. I close the door behind me and her head pops up when she hears the soft click of the door shutting. Alex launches herself at me, and all but chokes me to death as she hugs me with a vice like grip. She loosens her hold on me enough so she could lean back and then kisses me hard. It wasn’t necessarily a passionate kiss, but more of one of utter relief. When she breaks off the kiss and leans back once again, I see that she is teary eyed.

“What happened?” She asks me in a quiet voice. I trace her jaw line with my fingers before replying with a sigh.

“Your dad is the best.”


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I hate to give anything away, but if you're not into violence I would recommend not reading this chapter and just waiting until I get the next one out. As always I hope you enjoy...well maybe not with this chapter.

Tobin’s POV

Alex leads me to her bed and I explain everything that occurred between her father and I. I got a little choked up when I told her how he approves of me even when he knows my family’s past. Alex engulfs me in a hug kissing the top of my head before lying down and pulling me on top of her. We lay there for a few minutes until I pull away and climb off of the bed. 

“Where are you going?” Alex asks me with a confused look on her face.

“I can’t spend the night now Lex, I just had that major talk with your dad and I don’t want to mess it up.” I say regretfully. 

“I guess you’re right.” She sighs and begrudgingly slides off the bed. She takes my hand and leads me to the front door. 

“What should I wear tomorrow?” I suddenly blurt out as I think about the dinner that is taking place tomorrow evening. 

“Jeans and a nice top, nothing over the top.” Alex said while pushing a piece of hair behind my ear. 

“What if it doesn’t go well? I mean maybe this isn’t such a good idea. We can totally reschedule it or not even do it at all. Maybe we should-“ I start rambling nervously until Alex puts her hand over my mouth. 

“Tobin we are having this dinner tomorrow because my dad really likes you, and he’s going to convince my mom to like you too. Do you want to keep hiding our relationship?” She asks and I shake my head. 

“Well than it’s settled you will be here at 6 sharp.” She says removing her hand. 

“But what if-“ I try to reason but my mouth is once again covered by Alex’s hand.

“Tobin. I love you and I know you love me.” She pauses and I nod my head vigorously. “This is something we are going to have to do so we can love each other openly. Ok?” She asks and I nod my head again. 

“Good. Now that that’s settled, I have to go talk to my dad.” Alex says smiling at me. 

“Ok goodnight babe I love you.” I say kissing her gently.

“I love you more.” She whispers against my lips.

“I honestly don’t think that’s possible.” I respond back. 

 

\---------

 

“So just like that he was totally cool with it even though his wife was like a total BITCH to you?” Kelley asks with her eyebrows raised. 

Kelley had come over at about 4:00 out of boredom and found me standing in front of my closet clueless on what I was to wear tonight. I had decided to go with black skinny jeans but that’s as far as I had gotten. She asked me what I was doing and I ended up spilling all of last night’s events to her. 

“Yeah I mean I never thought in a million years that he would say all those things. I thought he was in agreement with his wife but obviously I was wrong.” I say flipping through the few shirts I had. 

“Wowwww. Well you know what, maybe he’ll convince her to actually give you a chance and then she’ll love you because honestly, who can resist the Tobin charm???”

“Thanks Kell.” I say and then fall backwards onto the bed and placing my hand over my eye.

“No problem, but um buddy I hope you’re going to change your shirt because even you don’t have enough charm to wear a white V-neck with stains on it.” She says chuckling and pulling at the t-shirt I had worn for work. 

“Yeah yeah I’m on it.” I grumbled. 

“Do you need some help from Chen-dog?”

“No! The last thing I need is the whole gang over here trying to pamper me up. It would make me even more nervous than I already am. Don’t worry, I’ll eventually figure out what to wear.”

“Ok then suit yourself! I unfortunately have to go to work I have the late shift so I wont see you until tomorrow. Count on me being here at 8 and don’t leave out any details.” Kelley says shaking a finger at me over her shoulder. 

“Whatever.” I say chuckling. “Bye Kell!”

“See ya Tobs!”

With Kelley gone I turn my attention back to my enemy at the moment, my closet. I glance down at my watch and see that it’s 5:45. 

“Shit.” It only takes 5 minutes to get to Alex’s house but I planned on stopping along the way to get some flowers. Maybe I should have gotten Cheney to come help me after all. I had decided that I would just do eeny meeny miny moe and go from there when I heard the door slide open behind me. 

“What did you forget Kelley?”

“I don’t think she forgot anything.” A deep raspy voice replied. My entire body freezes and fear grips my insides as I slowly rotate around and see my dad standing by the door with another guy. 

“But I think you did. Where the hell were you last Friday.” He says swinging something in his hand. I looked down and saw that it was the belt he always reserved just for me. It was one of those belts with the huge buckle that cowboys always wore. I’ve lost count how many times he beat me with that belt. My eyes dart back up to his and watch him as he smiles as he reads the fear on my face. 

“So where were ya? Huh? Because of you there weren’t enough people to help me load the stuff fast enough and I lost out on about 20 grand of heroine. Do you know how mad I was that I missed out on that much smack.” He says with a deathly calm attitude while swinging the belt menacingly in his hand. 

I don’t say anything because I’m still frozen in fear. I guess I stayed quiet for too long because he lashes out and quickly strikes me across the cheekbone with the belt. I stumble backwards holding both hands up to my face as I lean against the wall as I try and get my balance back. I bring down one hand and see that it’s covered in my blood. 

“So what the fuck was so important that you missed the drop huh? Was it that pretty little girl of yours? What’s her name again? Alex?” He sneers at me and the sound of Alex’s name coming out of his mouth fills me with such hate my brain can’t comprehend what I do next. 

I grab the lamp next to me and throw it with all of my might at him. It catches him in the face and knocks him down to the ground. I know the sliding door is blocked by the guy he brought with him, so I run and slide over to the trap door as fast as I possible can. I get the hatch open and am jumping down when a hand grabs the back of my shirt. I pull and jerk as hard as I possibly can but I feel the strong arms of someone dragging me back up the ladder. 

I’m thrown into the corner of my room and I look up to see my dad getting up off of the ground nursing a laceration right at the hairline. He looks at the blood on his hands and then at me, and begins to laugh hysterically causing fear to pool in my stomach.

“The bitch finally fights back. Did you see that Greg?! Maybe she is my kid after all.” He says still laughing loudly until it slowly dies down. 

“She has to be taught a lesson though. Kids can’t go around hitting parents right Greg?” He rhetorically asks and Greg just grunts. 

He starts to walk over to me and I curl into a ball, making myself as small as I possibly could. He gives me a light kick before I feel a pair of hands grab me and lift me up. I look behind me and see Greg hold my arms in place and basically holding my entire body weight as I try and slide back onto the ground. 

I turn my head to face my dad again right as his fist strikes my mouth. I let out a whimper and scrunch my face together as the pain washes over me. I feel blood running down my jaw and neck, and look down to see red blossoms on my shirt from the blood dropping from my lip. 

“Now this could all stop right now if you do something for me.” He says and I stay quiet, still dazed from the hit. 

“I know your girl is loaded, because I had one of my boys follow you there the other night.” He says and horror courses through me. “Get me in there or tell me how to get in there and I’ll never bother you again.” He says with his hands raised as if in surrender. 

“Are you seriously delusional.” I say looking at him as if he had 3 heads. “Why the fuck would I tell you that?”

“Watch your mouth!” He says slapping the cheek that already had the cut on it. He wipes the blood on his hand from my cut onto my shirt. 

“Because if you don’t tell me, two things are going to happen. One, I’m going to beat the fucking shit out of you. And two, when I’m finished with you I’m going to go find your girl with the pretty face and ass and show her a thing or two that she’s missing out on.” He said winking and grabbing the front of his pants. 

When he says that, all the fear that I had switched to fury in an instant. My blood was boiling with rage because of the man that was standing in front of me was a monster. I don’t know where it came from, but somehow I had the strength to rip my arms from Greg’s grip and throttle myself towards my dad. 

The look of shock on his face was priceless, and I was only able to get in a punch to his nose before Greg got a hold of me again. Greg didn’t move me back fast enough though, because I was able to kick him in the crouch while he was still on the floor. Greg finally restrained me by slamming my head into the wall making my entire head spin. When it finally stopped spinning, my dad was getting off of the ground gingerly with a sick smile on his face. 

“You just earned yourself an entire night’s worth of me kicking the motherfucking shit out of you. You’re ballsy today!” He says spitting blood onto the floor. He stalks over to me before punching me right under my ribs knocking all of the wind out of me. He waited until I got my breath back before hitting me in the same spot again. 

I lose count of how many times he does this, along with throwing a few punches on other areas of my body. All I know is by the time he stops doing it the sun is already gone. I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever been in this much pain. Everything hurt; it hurt to breathe, it hurt to swallow the mixture of blood and spit that slid down my throat, it even hurt to lift my head to see if the anger had left his eyes yet.

“Yo boss she seems pretty out of it.” Greg says when I hadn’t responded in a while. He was the only thing holding me up, if he were to let me go I would crash to the floor.

“Nah she’s fine. She’s a tough bitch.” He says out of breath and pushing his sweaty hair out of his face. 

“Are you sure? I mean we don’t want to kill her, we’re already havin to deal with the McKinley’s shit, we don’t need another body.” Greg says shrugging his shoulders. 

“Watch this. Hey. Hey shitface look up.” He says and I continue to let my head hang in utter exhaustion. 

“Hey. I’m gonna get Alex and then fuck her in front of you.” He sneers at me and this makes me lift my head to see him right in front of my face grinning wickedly. 

“See I told you she’s fine! I bet she’d be great to fuck though huh? She has such a great ass.” He says looking at Greg behind me.

“Fuck you.” I mumble.

“What was that?” He asked teasingly.

“Fuck you!” I shout and spit into his face. 

With his eyes closed, he wipes the mixture of spit and blood off of his face and slowly opening his eyes. The last thing I see is his fist rushing towards my face before everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think!


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because all of you guys are awesome I was able to really motivate myself to get this chapter out to you guys! Hope you enjoy!

Alex’s POV

I stood in front of the mirror smoothing out my jeans and blouse I was wearing. I look down at the gold watch on my wrist and see that it is 5:55. Knowing that Tobin always likes to be somewhere at least 5 minutes early, I make my way downstairs to meet her. 

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous for this dinner. If I was this nervous, I didn’t even want to know how nervous Tobin was. I close my eyes and smile because in my mind I can see her pacing in front of her closet wandering what she should wear. Shaking my head, I reach the foyer and see that Jacob is peering out of the window. 

“Whatcha doing Jacob?” I say while walking up to him and looking out the window myself. 

“Oh Alex, I am just waiting for Tobin to arrive. I was thinking about giving her a fist bump as encouragement.” He said with a smile and I laugh at the thought of Jacob giving out fist bumps.

“I’m sure she will need it.” I sigh.

“I truly do hope your mother will see past her family issues and actually see Tobin’s pure nature.” Jacob says looking out the window again. 

“Trust me, I do too. I’m crossing my fingers that dad has convinced her to at least act civil to Tobin when she gets here.” I say glancing at my watch again and seeing that it read 6:04. 

“She may have gotten stuck in traffic.” Jacob says noticing as I keep looking down at my watch. 

“Yeah that’s it. She’s stuck in traffic or is picking up flowers or something.” I say convincing myself. 

I continue to pace up and down the hallway, and begin to freak out when it’s 6:15 and Tobin is still nowhere in sight. 

“Why don’t you call her?” Jacob asks. 

“She doesn’t have a phone. Ugh! I swear I am getting her a phone tomorrow. I can’t deal with not being able to contact her anymore!” I huff out in frustration. I text Kelley instead hoping that Tobin was with her. I only have to wait a few seconds before she replies back. 

Kelley: I left the shop at like 5:45 and she was basically ready to go. 

Alex: Ok thanks Kell. 

Another half hour goes by and I hear footsteps, other than my own, coming down the hall. I tear my gaze away from the window to see my father and mother walking towards us. 

“Where is Tobin? It’s 7:00.” My dad says glancing at his watch.

“Obviously she doesn’t respect being on time.” My mother snips.

“Pamela. We talked about this.” My dad says back in a firm voice causing my mother to inhale deeply through her nose. 

“I don’t know where she is dad. She is never late and she doesn’t have a phone so I cant call her.” I say ignoring the scoff from my mother. 

“Should we be concerned?” He asks with a scrunched brow.

I’m about to shake my head no, but then think about what took place last week, or actually what didn’t take place last week. “I don’t know.” I squeak out. 

My dad looks at me for a minute and takes in how worried I looked. “Ok. Lets go see where she is.” 

I grab my keys from the rack in the closet and start running out the door, but stop when I feel my dad’s hand around my arm. 

“We’re going to take my car.” He says grabbing his keys and then walking out the door. 

He unlocked the doors to his Land Rover Defender and I jump into the passenger seat. I give my dad instructions to the Surf shop, but other than that we don’t talk. 

We pull into the parking lot and I notice that a car is in the usual empty lot. On a closer examination I recognize it as the black SUV that her dad drove to the corner last week. A thousand thoughts rush through my head as my dad puts the car in park. 

“Dad stay in the car.”

“What? Why?”

“Please just stay in the car I promise I will be right back and you will be able to see me the whole time. I just need to look at something.” I say and don’t even wait for a reply before hopping out of the car and softly shutting the door. 

I run to the balcony and slowly climb up it peering through the railing to see if I saw anything. What I did see made me sick to my stomach and I dropped from the top of the balcony and run back to the car. 

“Dad call 911 now!” I urgently whisper. 

He does it without hesitation but then does something that takes me completely by surprise. He hands me the phone and pulls a handgun out of the middle compartment. He looks at me seriously and I nod my head while talking to 911. They said they would be there as fast as they could and I hung up and got out of the car following my dad up the balcony. 

I’m climbing up the balcony when I hear Tobin shout out fuck you loudly. I clear the balcony just as her dad strikes her hard in the face and she collapses against the guy that is holding her up. My dad doesn’t wait a moment longer and rips open the door. 

“Get the fuck away from her!” He yells at her dad just as he is about to punch her again. The man looks up startled and sees that my dad has a gun trained on him. I try to run to Tobin who is on the ground not moving, but my dad holds me in place behind him.

“If you make any movement without my say so whatsoever I will not hesitate to pull this trigger.” He says with the most determined look on his face that I had ever seen. 

“Move to the corner of the room. Now!” He commands and Tobin’s dad slowly backs off with his hands in the air. “You too.” He says motioning to the guy standing above Tobin’s motionless body. Once he had finally moved to join her dad in the corner, my dad finally let me run over to Tobin. 

I dropped down onto my knees and tears started to pour down my face when I look what had been done to Tobin. Her face was swollen from the amount of hits that she had taken and had at least 5 lacerations on her face alone. My eyes travel down the rest of her body and notice how much blood had run down her neck and stained her white ripped shirt. In one of the tears in her shirt I could see a cut with a bruise already forming and I honestly did not want to know how many more there were. Her chest rises so slowly I had to put my hand on it to make sure she was still breathing. I want to run my hands over her body but don’t know where to touch without hurting her more. I settle for taking her hand in mine and cry harder when she doesn’t squeeze it back. 

“Tobin wake up. Tobin please wake up!” I plead while watching her to see if there were any signs of movement. 

“Tobin you will not-“ I start to say but stop abruptly when a shot goes off behind me. 

I spin around quickly to see my dad focused intently on the corner of the room. I look over to see a hole a about a foot to the left of Tobin’s dad’s head. 

“I told you I would not hesitate to shoot.” My dad says coldly. “Alex how is Tobin?”

“She wont wake up dad.” I whimper.

“The ambulance and police will be here soon baby don’t worry.” He says keeping his eyes on the two men in the corner. I quickly turn my attention back to Tobin and run my hands gently through her hair. 

“Toby you can not die on me. Do you hear me?! You can’t I love you too much you just cant! Please wake up!” I beg. Getting impatient I turn to my dad completely missing the fluttering of Tobin’s eyelids.

“Where are they?!”

“Lex.” A voice smaller then a whisper calls out and I spin around and am met with the warm brown eyes I fell in love with. 

“Tobin.” I say and lean forward with my hands hovering by her face. 

“Lex. You-you have to get out of here.” She whispers and it seems like every word caused her extreme pain. 

“No Tobin I’m not leaving you!” 

“Alex! You have to get out of here now! It’s not safe! Go!” she gasps gripping my shirt before letting her hand fall back to the floor and closing her eyes. 

“No Tobin wake up! Don’t go back to sleep!” I shout at her and that’s when I begin to hear the sirens making its way down the street. 

“Tobin the ambulance is here just stay awake a little longer!” I beg her. I watch as she struggles to keep her eyes open but cant any longer.

“I love you Alex.” She sighs before closing her eyes again. 

“Christ Tobin!” I say leaning back on my legs and crying. 

“Darling I know this is really hard but I need you to leave Tobin’s side and tell the police and medics that she is up here.” He says his eyes still trained on the two criminals in the corner. 

I take one last look at Tobin before jumping up and running out to the balcony. I get on the balcony the same time that the police are getting out of their squad car. 

“Up here! Please hurry!” I shout and they begin to run over and climb up the balcony as I tell them what is going on. 

“My dad is holding two men at gun point because they just viscously attacked my girlfriend.” I say and they nod before proceeding inside. They make quick work of arresting Tobin’s dad and his goon and call up the medical team immediately to treat Tobin. 

“We’ve been trying to snag this guy for awhile now.” One of the officers says as her handcuffs Tobin’s dad who has refused to say anything since being held at gunpoint. 

“What the hell would he want with a kid who lives over a surf shop?” The other officer asks.

“She is his daughter.” I hear my dad respond while I stand next to Tobin as they load her carefully onto the gurney.

“That’s some fucked up shit.” One of them murmurs. 

“You are one sick bastard who will be in jail for a longgg time.” The first officer says pushing Tobin’s dad towards the door. 

“We’re taking her to the hospital now. You can follow us there.” One of the medics informs us as they lift Tobin off of the ground. 

“And we’ll be there later tonight to get a statement from you.” The officer says. 

“Will she be ok?” I ask.

“Other then a few stitches and bruising she should be ok physically, psychologically is a different story.” A medic says as they walk out the door. They slowly lower her from the balcony by having the two police officers hold it up from the ground as they climb down the pegs. 

My dad and I climb into his car and follow the ambulance to the hospital. I hold his hand the whole way just looking out the window in silence. We pull into the hospital and walk towards the emergency check in desk. 

“Hi we’re here for Tobin Heath.” My dad says once we reach the desk. 

The receptionist starts typing into her computer when we hear shouting down the hall. 

“She’s going into shock! We need to get her into an ER now!” Doctors shout pushing a gurney quickly down the hall. 

I look to see what’s going on and my heart drops to the floor when I see its Tobin flying by us with an oxygen mask over her mouth and her body shaking. 

“Oh my god.” I whisper as my knees give out on me and I fall to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't kill me!


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is a bit shorter then the previous two, but I wanted to get something out to you guys instead of forcing you to wait another few days for me to completely finish the next chapter.

Alex’s POV

“Alex.”

“Alex, Alex look at me.” 

I tear my gaze away from the doors Tobin had been pushed through and look up at my dad as he has both hands wrapped around my arms, essentially holding me up. I feel myself start to hyperventilate as I stare into my dad’s eyes. 

“Dad… what’s happening? They told me she would be ok. They said she would be fine!” I say as my breath begins to quicken. 

“Alex calm down. I’m sure she will be ok.” He says calmly but I can see the apprehension in his eyes. 

“They said-they said she would be ok.” I say looking over my shoulder at the place Tobin had disappeared to. 

“Alex lets go sit down.” He says and leads me over to a set of chairs. 

“Does Tobin have someone that would be here for her?” He asks and that pulls me from my dazed state. 

“Kelley.” I say reaching into my pocket for my phone and calling her. 

“Cello dis be KO speakin. Waz up home skillet.” 

“Kelley.” I croak and Kelley senses something wrong in my voice and immediately stops joking around. 

“Alex are you ok? What’s wrong?”

“Tobin sh-sh-she… we’re in the hospital.” I say through trembling lips.

“What’s going on? What happened to Tobin?!” Kelley asks with concern. 

“Sh-she was late coming to dinner, so me and my dad went to find her. We got to the shop and her dad was there and-and-“I say before breaking down completely, not able to talk anymore.

“Omg.” I hear Kelley whisper. “Alex what hospital are you at?” She asks and I hear a door slam in the background. 

“We-we we’re at Cambria General Hospital.” I stutter out.

“I will be there in 5 minutes.” She says and hangs up.

I lean into my dad’s shoulder and cry while he puts an arm around me tightly. It feels like only a few moments before I hear loud footsteps down the hallway. Kelley comes running around a corner sliding in her shoes, and is about to start running again when she spots me. 

“Alex. Alex what the hell is going on?” Kelley asks out of breath. 

“We don’t know! They just took Tobin into an emergency room! One minute they are telling me that’s she’s fine and the next thing I know is that she’s going into shock!” 

“I’m going to fucking kill him.” She says clenching her jaw. 

“The police arrested him.” I mumble. 

“It’s about fucking time.” She says angrily before turning her attention to my dad sitting next to me and points to him in confusion.

“My dad.” I state.

“You must be Kelley. I’m sorry we have to meet on such a bad occasion.” My dad says holding out his hand. 

“Me too. From what I hear you’re a pretty cool guy.” Kelley says shaking his hand. 

Kelley plops down in the seat next to me and leans her head on my shoulder not saying anything. We sit like this for over an hour. Me holding onto my dad’s hand as if my life depended on it, and Kelley needing someone to lean on. I’m about to get up and start pacing when we see a doctor approach us. 

“Are you family of Tobin Heath?” He asks 

“Yes.” All three of us say in unison and stand up.

“I’m Dr. Scott and am the head surgeon of Mrs. Heath’s case. Mrs. Heath had extensive internal bleeding from her spleen rupturing and hemothorax. We were-“

“I’m sorry what is hemothorax?” I interrupt confused by the term. 

“The membrane surrounding her left lung ruptured causing blood to fill the cavity between her chest wall and lung.” He explains.

“Is she ok?” I ask intently.

“Mam you have to know that we tried our best-“

“NO!” I shout at him and he pauses before continuing.

“But at the moment she is in a coma due to the amount of internal bleeding that she had. We will be monitoring her progress closely.” He says grimly. I drop into the chair behind me and Kelley rubs my back as she sits there and stares at the floor. 

“I need to call Abby.” She mutters before standing slowly and walking down the hallway. 

“Sir, it seems as if this isn’t the first time Mrs. Heath’s spleen has ruptured. There was a good amount of scar tissue surrounding the recent ruptured area of her spleen. Do you know what might have caused this to happen?” He asked my dad with a perplexed look on his face.

“From what I’ve learned from my daughter, Tobin was beaten on a regular basis when she was younger.” My dad says glancing at me. 

“Alright thank you, that would make sense from the amount of scars on her body.” The doctor sadly says nodding his head.

“Can I see her.” I suddenly say and stand to get the doctor’s attention.

“Of course.” He says turning and walking down the hallway. I follow closely while my dad mumbles something about waiting for Kelley. He leads me down several hallways before stopping in front of a cracked door. He slowly opens it and my heart breaks from the sight in front of me. 

Tobin is hooked up to multiple machines, and the only sound that penetrates the room is the beeping of those machines. Her face has small bandages covering it, and one that wrapped around her head. Her skin no longer had that warm tan glow to it, but looks pale and cold. 

“The positive thing about Tobin’s case is that she is breathing on her own, so she may only be in a coma for only a few days.” Dr. Scott says in an uplifting voice as I make my way around the bed to sit next to Tobin. I don’t respond and he takes the hint leaving Tobin and I alone. 

I take her limp hand in mine and bring it to my face. I kiss each knuckle before placing it on my cheek and closing my eyes. I open them and then lean forward, using the tips of my fingers to outline all the skin that was not covered in bandages. I push a piece of hair behind her ear and hold my hand there. I place the gentlest kiss possible on her forehead, not wanting to cause her anymore pain, even though she was asleep, because of her battered lips. 

“Thank you for not dying on me back there.” I say quietly playing with her fingers.

“But now you have to wake up. Do you hear me Toby? You don’t have to wake up right this second because I know you’re really tired, but you have to wake up soon. Ok? You have too many people that love you for you not wake up. So please find your way back. Please find your way back to me.” I say resting my head on her motionless hand.


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW. So I am really really really sorry for this guys. Honestly. One, I didn't think it would take me this long to write this chapter, I has some serious writer's block even though it should have been easy to write. Secondly, I forgot how hard being a collegiate athlete is and I'm barely surviving practice and the piles of school work I have right now. To all of those who are asking about Camp Red Fern, I promise that I will continue the story, but only after I have finished this one. Writing a chapter for one story is already hard enough, two is just undoable for me at the moment. This story will sadly becoming to an end soon :( I don't want it to, but I would hate to drag it on when I could just end on a good note. I don't know when the next chapter will be out so I won't promise anything, but I will try my hardest to not make you guys wait for as long as you did for this one. As always I hope you guys enjoy!

Alex’s POV

I rub my thumbs over Tobin’s hand as I watch her breathe in and exhale slowly. I wipe away a tear that slid down my face with my free hand. I lean forward and press the gentlest kiss possible to her forehead and pull away abruptly when I hear the door bang open. I whirl my head around to look at the door and see Abby standing there, breathing heavily with Kelley hiding behind her. Abby opens her mouth as if she is going to say something but nothing comes out. She walks slowly over to the side of the bed and places her hands on either side of her face a places several kisses on the parts of her face that weren’t covered in bandages. She pulls away with tears in her eyes and squats down taking Tobin’s other hand in hers. 

“Aww kid what the hell has he done now?” She murmurs quietly. 

She stays like that for a few minutes, silently studying Tobin’s features. After a while she stands and clears her throat, wiping away at a few stray tears. 

“I uh I need to talk to her doctor. Find out what’s going on.” She said and with that, walked out of the room. 

Kelley immediately takes Abby’s spot, but pulls up the spare chair next to the bed. We sit in silence for a couple of minutes until Kelley breaks it. 

“I can’t lose my best friend Lex. I just-I just can’t. She’s been my friend since we were 6… “ Kelley whispers while searching Tobin’s face for any signs of movement. 

“She’s going to be fine Kel.” I say with confidence, even though on the inside I’m quivering with fear. 

“She better fucking be. You hear me Tobs? When you wake up I’m going to kick your ass for scaring the living shit out of me.” She says even getting a teary chuckle out of me. 

“Alex?” 

I turn around and see my dad standing in the doorway with Abby in the background speaking to the doctor. 

“Alex why don’t you come home, shower, eat, and sleep for a little bit. It’s been an exhausting day and…”

“Dad. I’m not leaving.” I say looking at him like he was insane. 

“Alex look-“

“Dad. I. Am. Not. Leaving.” I say with determination. “Why don’t you go home, tell mom what’s going on, rest up a bit, and come back in a few hours.” I say in a gentler voice. 

He sighs before nodding his head and turning to Kelley to ask the same question but he stops her in his tracks.

“You would have to pry me away from this seat sir so don’t even think about.” 

He lets out a small smile and makes his way over to me placing a kiss on my head and then one on Kelley’s as he walks out. I glace at my watch and see that’s its 2:19 and rub my face when I realize we’ve been sitting in the hospital for over 6 hours. I move my gaze over to Kelley and notice that her eyes are fluttering as she tries to keep them open. Exhaustion washes over me and I place a kiss on Tobin’s hand and lay my head down on the bed next to her body. 

The next day is the slowest day of my life. Kelley and I woke up at the same time, only getting a few hours of sleep because we kept waking up to see if Tobin had. Abby comes back and brings us coffee and some muffins; I gratefully accept the coffee but can’t bring myself to eat the muffin. I honestly don’t have an appetite even though I hadn’t eaten in a long time. Kelley nibbles slowly at it while I sit there looking out the window at the sunrise. 

I’m startled from my haze with a knock at the door. Kelley, Abby, and I spin around to see Dr. Scott walking into the room with a clipboard in his hand. 

“Hello how are we doing this morning?” He asks politely.

“Fine thank you for asking.” Abby says while Kelley and I just shrug our shoulders.

“Well I do have some good news. Tobin’s vitals seem to all be back to normal. It wouldn’t surprise me if she wakes up in the next 24 hours.” He says brightly. 

“Oh my gosh that’s fantastic!” Kelley says excitedly.

“Thank you Doc, that’s great news.” Abby says gratefully while shaking his hand. 

“May I speak with you outside?” Dr. Scott asks Abby. 

“Yes of course I’ll be right back.” She says to Kelley and I.

“Hey Alex I’m going to call Cheney, and update her. She woke up this morning and has been driving back from Vancouver since I told her what happened. She won’t be back until late tonight.” Kelley says while standing and making her way outside. 

I sigh and look at Tobin outlining her face with my fingers for what felt like the millionth time this morning. All I want is to see is Tobin’s warm brown eyes open and see her wide contagious smile. I lay my head down next to Tobin’s arm and rest my exhausted eyes. 

I wake up a few hours later to the tickling feeling of something on my face. I scrunch my face hoping whatever it was would leave me alone for a few more minutes of peace but it was persistent and began tickling my face again. I groan and open my eyes expecting to have to kill an annoying bug but am met with a tan hand slowly tracing my face. 

Instantly I am awake and lift my head so quickly I get a crick in my neck. Gripping the back of my neck I look in front of me and see Tobin, an exhausted looking Tobin, slightly smirking at me. 

“Tobin!”

“Hey babe.” She rasps out before I wrap my arms around her as tightly as I could without hurting her. I hear her chuckle lightly and move my head kissing her passionately. 

“Mmm Lex I can’t really breathe.” She mumbles against my lips and I jump back quickly.

“Oh my gosh I’m sorry Tobin! I just got caught up in the moment and I-“ 

“Lex stop freaking out, I just can’t breathe deeply right now is all. Come back here.” She says reaching her arm out towards me and bringing me in for a gentle kiss. 

“I should get the doctor.” I say and lean over pressing the nurse button. 

“Hey.” 

“Yeah?” I say looking under my arm at her.

“I love you.” She says sincerely.

“I love you more.” I say kissing her lips lightly.

“I don’t think that’s possible.” She whispers pecking my lips right as the doctor, Abby, and Kelley walk in.

“TOBS!” Kelley exclaims running past Abby, jumping over the chair in her way, and throwing her arms around Tobin’s neck. 

“Don’t ever do that to me again!” Kelley accuses her wiping away at the tear on her cheek while Tobin smiles at her. 

“Hey kid.” Abby says putting a hand on Tobin’s head.

“Hey Abby.” 

“So Tobin you seem to be doing very well. How are you feeling?” Dr. Scott asks while looking at a chart. 

“Um my whole body hurts. Especially my left side and it’s hard for me to take a big breath.” Tobin responded and I give her hand a comforting squeeze.

“That is completely understandable considering that your spleen ruptured and you had hemothorax.” 

“Wow. Got put through the wringer this time didn’t I.” Tobin says with her eyebrows raised. 

“Unfortunately so, but you are recovering very well from surgery and if your vitals stay the same, you should be able to go home tomorrow. The police department will be sending down an officer to get your testament sometime today now that you are awake. If you’ll excuse me I have to check on some of my other patients. ” Dr. Scott says nodding his head before exiting the room. The room is quiet for a few moments as everyone stares at Tobin as she sits there, watching everyone gaze at her. 

“So uh what happened exactly? I mean how did I end up here?” Tobin asked slowly. 

Abby, Kelley, and I all look at each other before Abby backs away with her hands in the air.

“You explain. I need to talk to the nurses about the medicine I need to give Tobin when she’s back home.” She says once again leaving the room. 

I turn to Tobin and begin to explain everything that happened with Kelley throwing in comments every now and then. Tobin sat and listened intently throughout the story. When I finally finished, she let out a breath and rubbed her face with the hand I wasn’t holding.

“Lex I… I am so sorry you and your dad had to see that. I never wanted you to see that again-“ Tobin rambled, but stopped when I put a finger on her lips. 

“Tobin you have nothing to be sorry for! This wasn’t your fault and never will be, your dad is the only person in this situation to blame.”

“Where is your dad?” She asked quietly.

“He’s bringing us dinner later on. Why?” 

“I need to thank him. From what you told me, if he hadn’t stepped in with that gun I probably wouldn’t be here right now.” Tobin says, mumbling the last part. 

“But you are here and you’re going to be ok. That’s all that matters right now.” Kelley says with authority. 

“Sorry for freaking you out squirrel.” Tobin sincerely says looking at Kelley.

“Yeah yeah just don’t ever do that shit again asshole.” Kelley says acting like she’s mad which makes Tobin smile. 

I sigh and she turns to me with that megawatt grin of hers, and I swear, never in my life have I ever felt that much at peace.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm SORRY!! I know most of you probably hate me because its been almost 2 months since I've updated, but ALOT has happened to me in the past few months. I don't ever really share my personal life on here but I haven't been writing a lot because I met this absolutely amazing girl who has been taking up all my time. I also am a collegiate athlete, and it's my junior year so classes are really hard, and I just had surgery. Sorry if this sounds whiney but I just wanted to explain why I have been absent for so long. I can't promise when the next update will be out, but I can promise I won't leave this unfinished like so many other great stories. Again I am so so so sorry but I hope you enjoy and tell me what you think!

Tobin’s POV 

I wake up and am instantly hit with pain and confusion. I place a hand gently on my right side as I take in slow breaths, looking around the room confused why it dark outside. I glance around the room and see Alex asleep in the chair in the corner and Kelley asleep in the corner with a blanket wrapped tightly around her. I must have fallen asleep during our conversation I think to myself, because I don’t recall anything after Kelley telling a story about the new girl she was interested in. 

I shift my body to get more comfortable but instantly regret it as pain shoots through my side and an involuntary moan leaves my lips. Instantly Alex’s head pops and when she sees that I am awake she stands slowly, all of her joints popping from being restricted in one position, and walks over to me. 

“Hey babe why are you up?” She asks quietly while moving a piece of hair out of my face. 

“Nothing I just woke up.” I lied not wanting her to know that my side was killing me. Yesterday Alex was like a mother hen; hardly letting people touch me or even talking to loud, because she thought it would make my condition worsen. 

“Are you sure?” She asks squinting her eyes at me. 

“Yes Lex I’m fine.” I say rolling my eyes. 

“Ok. Whatever you sa-“ she says but is interrupted as she yawns loudly. It’s in that moment that I get a good look at how tired she is. Yesterday I had too many drugs pumped into my system to notice all of the details, but I see them now in the moonlit room. Alex has dark circles under her eyes, her hair looks as if she hadn’t showered in a week, and her body language screamed exhaustion. 

“Lex?” 

“Yeah babe? Do you need something??” 

“Are you ok? I know this must have been so stressful on you.” I say rubbing her leg that was closest to me. She takes a deep shuttering breath and looks down at the ground. 

“I thought you were going to die. When I saw you just lying there unresponsive… and then they told me you would be fine, but then they were pushing you in on a gurney and you were going into shock and I just… I… I can’t imagine what I would have done if you had died.” She says trying to choke back tears but failing as one drips down her face. 

“Alex look at me.” I request and she slowly lifts her head and I see that she is biting her lip trying to contain her tears. I place a hand on her face and gently wipe away a tear from under her eye. 

“I’m right baby. I’m a little banged up but I’m ok. I wont ever leave you ok? I’m here for as long as you want me, and nothing, not even my dad, can take me away from you. I love ya Lex.” I whisper softly and she sniffles and hiccups at the same time causing the both of us to giggle. 

“Not that I don’t love you two dorks, because I do, but it is 2:37 in the morning and you two are so sweet you are giving me a toothache.” Kelley grumbled from her place in the corner. 

I pull Alex in and give her a wet kiss making sure to make a smacking noise.

“UGHHHH!!! Why am I single? I hate both of you!” She whined before pulling the blanket over her head. 

“You love us and you know it.” Alex says laughing and going in for another kiss. She pulls back slowly and we stare into each other’s eyes for a few moments. 

“Hey.” I whisper.

“Hi.” She responds.

“I love you.” I say smiling softly at her. 

“I love you too beautiful.” She says before kissing me again. 

“You two are truly sickening.” Kelley moaned. I grab a pillow with my good arm and throw it at her, hitting her directly in the face. 

“OW! Geeze Toby I feel the love… Also aren’t you supposed to I don’t know be injured?! Stop throwing shit before you tear out your stiches dumbass. “

“Yeahhhh that would be bad wouldn’t it?” I rhetorically ask turning to Alex and making a face. 

“Um yeah how about you leave the throwing things at Kelley up to me.” She says. 

“Wow everyone just gang up on me why don’t ya! Since I am the abused child in this family, and my ass hurts from sitting on the floor for so long, I’m taking your chair!” Kelley says popping up and launching herself into Alex’s chair before she even has time to respond. 

“That’s ok she was going to sleep with me anyways. We haven’t had sex in a long time and Alex gets antsy after a while.” I joke winking at Alex. Her mouth drops open and even in the darkly lit room I can see the blush rising on her cheeks.

“Tobin!” She hisses before smacking my left shoulder, but not hard enough to hurt me. I chuckle lightly; trying to contain my laughter because if I were to laugh freely I know it would really hurt my side. 

“Oh. My. God. If you two have any kind of hanky panky going on when I am in the same room, I will kill the both of you…after I throw up.” Kelley says pretending to gag at the thought of seeing Alex and I. 

Still chuckling, I reach out for Alex to pull her into bed with me. She resists and gives me the evil eye for a second, but gives in and lies down on the left side of my bed. 

“It’s a good thing you’re hurt right now or you would be sleeping on the floor.” She grumbles into my neck as she snuggles closer to me. I smirk and reach down to hold her hand in my own. Exhaustion takes over the three of us, and soon we are fast asleep dreaming. 

I wake up only a few hours later, in pain again, but the pain is bearable because I have the most beautiful girl in the world curled up into my side. I lay there taking in how gorgeous she looks with the morning sun hitting her. I brush a stray piece of hair out of her face and close my eyes in utter peace. 

I open my eyes and realize that I had fallen asleep again. 

“Geeze these meds make me so drowsy.” I mutter, wiping the sleep out of my eyes. When I don’t hear a reply I look around the room, and realize that it’s empty. Sighing I reach for my cup of water on the side table, but see there is a note in front of it I pick up the note and smile when I see whose hand writing it is. 

Tobin, 

Good morning sleepy head! I woke up but you were still passed out and I didn’t want to wake you. Kelley left to go pick up Cheney and some of the other girls and they will come over at about 12.-

I stop reading the note and look over at the clock on the wall and see that it reads 11:15. Awesome I don’t have to wait long for company I think before returning to reading the note. 

-Which will be awesome because they miss you so much and Abby had to fight them off at the door last night because they wanted to see you so bad, but you were sleeping and she didn’t want them to disturb you. Anyways I went home really fast to shower and get a change of clothes. I should be back by the time you read this note but if not, I will be there very soon! I love you with all of my heart you goofy dork. 

Love, Alex

I sigh with a contented smile on my face after finishing the note. I’m setting the note back down on the table when I hear the door open up. Excited, I perk up in my bed as best as I can to see who it is. Abby walks through the door with someone following behind her. I slump back in bed a little disappointed. It’s not that I don’t want to see Abby; it’s just that I really wanted it to be Alex. 

“Hey kid, how are you feeling this morning??” Abby says walking up to me and ruffling my hair gently. 

“Better then yesterday.” I smirk at her. 

“Good to hear Tobs. Now this nice young man has a few questions to ask you. Do you think you’re up for it? Because if you aren’t we can do this later.” She says looking at me seriously. I peep around Abby and see a police officer standing there with a soft expression on his face. 

“Yeah I’m up for it Abby. But... But could you stay with me please.” I whisper the last part. 

“Of course kid. I’ll always be here for you.” She says softly and pulls up the chair so she could be closer to me. 

“Alright Ms. Heath I have some questions for you pertaining to the night that your father was arrested. Do you mind?” He said nicely. 

“Nope. Lets do this.” I say clenching my jaw, awaiting his first question.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW. This is the end of the journey for this story. It's hard to write the last chapter of the first story I've ever written. I didn't want it to end, and that is why it took so long for me to get this out to you guys. Thank you so so much for all of the comments and kudos that you have given this story. Without it, I probably would not have continued. Thank you again, and as always, I hope you enjoy.

Tobin’s POV

“Alright Tobin, tell me what you remember from the night.” Detective Russo says softly. 

“I wa-“ I begin but stop abruptly when I see Alex cautiously walk through the doorway. She stops when she sees the policeman, unsure if she in interrupting, but I wave her into the room and pat the spot next to me on the bed. 

“I’m sorry for interrupting.” Alex apologizes. 

“It’s ok Alex, I hadn’t really started yet.” I say and hold one of her hands as she sits next to me on the bed before I turn my attention back to Detective Russo. 

“As I was saying, I was in my room choosing an outfit because I was supposed to go to Alex’s for dinner. Kelley had just left and it was around 5:45 because I remember checking my watch. I heard my door open, but didn’t turn around because I thought it was Kelley.” She states taking in a deep breath before continuing. “My dad spoke out to me and I turned around and he and another guy named Greg was there. A couple weeks ago I had gotten a letter from him saying that if I didn’t meet him to help out with a drug deal, that something bad would happen.”

“Where did he say to meet him?” The detective interjects. 

“Um. Weston and uh.” I stutter trying to think of the other street. 

“Canal.” Alex whispers in my ear. 

“Yes that’s it. Corner of Weston and Canal.” I say to Detective Russo.

“Continue please.” He says as he scribbles in a notebook. 

“So um he was asking why I didn’t show up and he was swinging” I swallow the lump in my throat and begin to zone out as I retell my story. “A belt with this huge belt buckle that he used to use on me as a kid. He struck me once when I didn’t answer so I threw the lamp next to me at him and tried to escape through my trap door but Greg grabbed me. Then he asked me to get him into Alex’s house so he could steal from them. I refused of course. And then he said um he said some things that made me furious. So I lu-“

“What did he say?” Russo asks and I pause looking at Alex and Abby.

“I really don’t want to say it.” 

“Please Ms. Heath. I know it’s hard to relive this but I need to know exactly what happened if you want to your father to be sentenced. He has hired a very good lawyer and we need everything that we can get.” Detective Russo says sympathetically. I look to Alex and she nods her head for me to continue. 

“He threatened me.” I say through gritted teeth while looking at my hands. “He told me if I didn’t tell him then he would beat the shit out of me. And if I still didn’t tell him he would find Alex and show her what she was missing out on.” I barely get out as I watch my hands shake with contained rage. I couldn’t bring myself to look up and see what Alex’s facial expression was. 

“What happened after that?” Russo asks softly. 

“I lunged at him so fast I was able to punch him in the nose before Greg grabbed me and slammed me up against the wall. He said some more inappropriate things about Alex and I told him to um fuck off. After that he became enraged and hit me I guess until I passed out because the next thing I know I’m waking up in this bed.” I finish and continue to fiddle with my fingers until someone placed their hand over mine. I glance up and see Abby is watching me with a small smile on her face. 

“Thank you Ms. Heath, I know this was not easy.” Detective Russo states. Abby pats my hand before standing. 

“May I speak with you?” Abby asks detective Russo. 

“Of course.” He says closing his notebook, nodding his head at me, and walks out the door with Abby. I glance up at Alex as they leave and see that she isn’t even facing me, but looking at the window and my stomach drops. 

“Alex I, shit I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen to you. I put your entire family in danger. I understand if you don’t want anything to do with me because of my dad.” I say miserably. 

I wait for Alex to do something but she continues to look out the window and I just want to melt into the bed and disappear. For another minute Alex remains silent and my entire body is tingling nervously as I wait for Alex to respond. When she finally turns around, tears are flowing down her cheeks. My jaw drops and I begin to apologize again but she stops me.

“Tobin. How many times do I have to tell you. If I had the choice between you and a million things I’ve always wanted, I would choose you every single time. You. It will always be you. You have the most beautiful soul even with everything you’ve been through.” She says as she lightly strokes my face and soft smile crosses my face that she returns even though tears stain her face. 

“ You are kind, caring, brave, so so brave, beautiful, loving, funny, smart, talented, I could go on for hours describing you.” She lovingly says as she takes my face in her hands and leans closer to me.

“I love you.” She whispers before kissing me with more gentleness then I had ever experienced. 

“I love you with my entire being.” I mutter back as passionately as I can pass the lump in my throat. 

….. 

2 months later 

I'm sitting in my small studio area, relaxing after a stressful week. I had gone to court to testify against my father amongst other people. The judge found him guilty of child abuse, drug smuggling, and possession of drugs and illegal weapons. It's safe to say I will never be seeing my father again. Relief is an understatement of how I feel. 

“Tobin! Come down here! Something arrived for you in the mail!” Abby shouts up at me. 

Confused I set down the slab of wood that I was about to begin on and looked at Alex who was relaxing in the chair next to me reading a book. She shrugged her shoulders before standing with me and making our way down the stairs. 

“What is it Abby? I never get mail.” I say as I jump off the last step and land next to her. 

“I don’t know kid. It’s addressed to you.” 

I open the large yellow envelope and pull out a large stack of papers. 

“CCA? What is that?” I ask rhetorically as I continue reading. 

“Dear Ms. Heath, it is to the delight of the California College of Arts board members that we offer you a full scholarsh-“ I stop reading in shock and just stare at those 6 words. We offer you a full scholarship. I look up with wide eyes and see Abby with tears in her eyes, and Alex is restraining herself from jumping up and down in place.

“What is this?” I ask the both of them and I see Abby and Alex smile at each other. 

“I took pictures of your work and sent it in along with a paper stating why you are the person who is most worthy of this.” Alex says with a huge grin on her face. I stare at her speechless, look down at the paper in my hand, glance back up at her, and down at the paper once more. 

“I-I- you-Alex. I can’t believe you did this…” I say still staring at the piece of paper in my hand that will change my future before looking up at the girl he changed my entire life. 

I run to Alex and almost tackle her with the force of my hug. She laughs openly as she hugs me back. 

“And as you know I’ll be attending Cal Berkley and that’s only like a 15 minute drive.” She says happily. 

“My god what have I done to deserve you?” I ask in wonder. 

“So does that mean you’ll go?” She asks excitedly. I’m about to reply when I remember something and look back at Abby, but before I can even open my mouth Abby holds up her hand. 

“I’ll be fine. As long as you come back and visit me whenever you can.” 

I walk up to Abby and pull her into an even tighter hug then the one with Alex, and she pulls me into her chest holding me close. 

“I love you.” I mumble against her shirt as I begin to cry. “I don’t know what I would have done or where I would be in my life if I hadn’t met you. I’ll never be able to put into words how much you mean to me.” 

“I love you too kid.” She grunts out as I feel a tear drop onto my cheek. I stand back and wipe away the tears on my face and she does the same. 

“This is my home, I don’t know what I’m going to do if I leave.” I say looking up at Abby. 

“Sometimes home isn’t 4 walls. It’s something with 2 eyes and a heartbeat. I think you found a new place to call home.” Abby says smiling weakly through her tears causing new tears to streak down my face. I turn back to Alex who is gazing with more love, then my heart can process. 

“Let’s go make crazy adventures together.” I say and she squeals in joy before launching herself at me. As I hold on to Alex, as she smiles into my neck in complete elation, as Abby comes up and places her arms around the both of us, I am hit with a wave of bliss unlike any other I have experienced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good Ending or no? I will do my best to get more chapters out for Camp Red Fern but at the moment I am distracted by this new story I am writing. I already have 20k words done but I don't want to start publishing until I'm almost completely done with it. Personally I think it's better then A Place to Call Home and Camp Red Fern, but we shall see. Tell me what you guys think.


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